In the matter or Orenthal James Simpson, justice was a little late, but last Friday -- 13 years after justice was delayed in a Los Angeles double murder trial -- it refused to be denied in a Las Vegas courtroom. Simpson was sentenced to between nine and 33 years behind bars for his role in last year's kidnapping and armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers at Palace Station Hotel and Casino.

 (Ted Turner talked  politics, Fidel Castro and Jane Fonda  with Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. Part of that interview I am posting below. Ted doesn't think Castro is a killer.)
O'Reilly: Fidel Castro do you admire the man.

Yes.

O'Reilly: Now he is murdered people he's in prison people heard political prisoners now he won't let"...

"  That that that that I was buddy buddies with Fidel. Castro while I just said that I respect is certain things that he's done but we always we -- you respect the man."...

(Perhaps Ted needs to spend time with those who have had love ones killed or spend time in a Cuba prison. Ted's thoughts on people liking Castro in Cuba would be very funny if it wasn't true. In a nation like Cuba you only speak up when you agree with the leader. To express your views could mean time in prison or that your body will be found in a box. Fidel Castro  is not a man to respect. He is man we should pray is convicted by the Holy Spirit of the wrong he has done to other humans. And we for sure should pray for the people of Cuba  who have suffered so much under this man. Ted might also check out this web site for find out the truth about Cuba , The Real Cuba. Also watch the whole video, No Spin Zone Debut.     Pray for Ted Turner too.)

It's a tough economy out there, even for a kid. And many parents are wondering how to broach the subject. Should they shield their children from the hard times and spend like there's no tomorrow? Or is it better to share the reality that more families , often their own , simply can't have it all, even at Christmas? It can be a real dilemma. (   Sometimes, it's OK to tell your kids you're broke  )

"I've explained the situation, and I've also avoided it," says Mimi Chacin, a mom and business owner in Miami whose husband lost his job in advertising. The family is doing OK. And in fact, the children's cooking classes Chacin teaches have remained full so far , a sign, she says, that many parents are still willing to spend on some extras for their kids.

"I find myself not wanting to put them under that stress, but also sitting down and explaining that things aren't easy for anybody right now," Chacin says of her sons, ages 9 and 4.

(My heart goes out to these parents. At the same- time I think this year could be the best to teach our kids to focus on things like family time, faith, and giving to those who have very little. God gave to us  His son Jesus. So we should give to others, shouldn't we? Giving also doesn't have to be money it can be your time.)

Did you catch the political ad in which two Jews ring the doorbell of a nice working-class family? They barge in and rifle through the wife's purse and then the man's wallet for any cash. Cackling, they smash the daughter's piggy bank and pinch every penny. "We need it for the Wall Street bailout!" they exclaim.

No? Maybe you saw the one with the two swarthy Muslims who knock on the door of a nice Jewish family and then blow themselves up?

No? Well, then surely you saw the TV ad in which two smarmy Mormon missionaries knock on the door of an attractive lesbian couple. "Hi, we're from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!" says the blond one with a toothy smile. "We're here to take away your rights." The Mormon zealots yank the couple's wedding rings from their fingers and then tear up their marriage license.

(The above is part of a column written by Jonah Goldberg. More of the column is below.)

It's amazing. Hollywood liberals, who usually shout "McCarthyism!" as a first resort, see nothing wrong with this. If Jews were attacked in this way for giving too much money to a political cause, Barbra Streisand would already have a French passport.

Never mind that Proposition 8 carried nearly every demographic slice of voters. Put aside the fact that the Catholic Church and scores of other Christian churches supported it too. Discount the inconvenient truth that bans on gay marriage have now passed in each of the 30 states in which they've been put before voters. It's all the Mormons' fault.

(Those of you  who click on to my blog a lot know that I don't agree with much of  Mormon doctrine. Below is a picture of  the Mormon Temple in Oakland is blockaded by a group of Gay Activist. November 9, 2008 However to blame the Mormon church for Proposition 8 is nuts. The people of CA. voted for it and I bet most of those voters were  not part of the Mormon faith. I am not a Mormon but on this issue they are 100% right. Read all of the above column here.)

 

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream..
(Read the rest of this poem A Different Christmas Poem by Michael Marks   and read other poems  written by Michael Marks here.)

Reva Evans and Ingrid Olson share a home. They share bank accounts. They share a son.

But they are not married.

With one simple line in Iowa state law, the women are prevented from joining their lives together legally: "Only a marriage between a male and a female is valid."

The Council Bluffs women make up one of six same-sex Iowa couples suing for the right to marry in Iowa. This week, their fate will be in the hands of the Iowa Supreme Court. Justices are scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday in the case Varnum v. Brien, which challenges the constitutionality of the state law banning same-sex marriage.

A ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would not directly affect gay couples in  other states, said Mark Kende, a Drake University law professor and director of the Drake Constitutional Law Center.

But, he said, its relevance could be seen in future challenges to laws banning gay marriage. Petitioners likely would seek to portray same-sex marriage as becoming more conventional, Kende said.

"If the heartland goes pink, it's a big deal, because this is middle America," Kende said. "That's a pretty strong argument this has gone mainstream."

Nebraska voters in 2000 approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. A federal judge ruled it unconstitutional, but a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling in July 2006. Marriage is not and should not be taken as a right for everyone. issue

 

(It is my hope the judges on the high court in Iowa will see it is their job to interpret the laws and not make law as some judges have done before in places like CA. Marriage is not and should not be taken as a right for everyone.  Read more of this issue Six gay couples seek validation of their unions.)

President-elect Barack Obama added sweep and meat to his economic agenda on Saturday, pledging the largest new investment in roads and bridges since President Dwight D. Eisenhower built the Interstate system in the late 1950s, and tying his key initiatives – education, energy, health care –back to jobs in a package that has the makings of a smaller and modern version of FDR's New Deal marriage of job creation with infrastructure upgrades. 

The president-elect also said for the first time that he will “launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen.”

“We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms,” he said in the address. 

(This sounds like more government programs to me. If  President Obama does this look for our taxes to go rock high. Read about  what Obama wants to doJOBS, ROADS, BRIDGES, SCHOOLS, BROADBAND, ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS, ENERGY.)

 For the first time since his retirement last spring, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ this morning with two goals: glorifying God and vilifying the media. ( Jeremiah Wright Blasts Media from Trinity Pulpit .)      
In honor of Trinity's 47th anniversary, Wright preached Sunday worship services in place of Rev. Otis Moss III, who was attending his father's farewell from the pulpit of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland.

"Jesus said upon this rock I will build--listen to the promise--my church," he said. "And the gates of Hell--listen to the promise--the gates of Hell--neither ABC nor CNN--the gates of Hell--neither Hannity nor O'Reilly--the gates of Hell--neither Time, Time magazine, Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune ... the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. Nothing will be impossible with God."

(I never thought the  gates hell Jesus was talking about was those who reported how radical Rev. Wright is. The good spiritual leader is doing something we are warned not to do, add to the word of God.)

 New footage released today from an undercover camera inside an abortion clinic in Bloomington shows Planned Parenthood staff deliberately violating the state's mandatory reporting laws for sexual abuse.

The footage shows Lila Rose, a UCLA student journalist and president of right-to-life advocacy group Live Action, posing as a 13-year-old girl. In an appointment with a Planned Parenthood nurse, Rose says she has been impregnated by a 31-year-old man, a clear case of child molestation under Indiana state law.

(This video should show everyone that those at Planned Parenthood don't care about young women instead they just want to push the views of the radical left  even if it means sending an abused girl back to the one who has abused her. Watch the video and see what you think  Shocking video at Planned Parenthood .)