40 Years Ago Today

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a merry Christmas and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.

Those were the words from Apollo 8, 40 years ago today.

Keep God alive, keep Christ in Christmas, and hope your dreams come true.

Only YOU can make them happen - not government.

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Working Wage

There's more to a working wage than simply gross pay. If you are a union worker you are forced to pay money to the union machine. If you live in a Liberal state most likely you're paying higher taxes - including taxes on the necessities your family needs.

I keep getting emails from unions about how their interest is for the American worker, the American family - so I decided to do a little experiment.

Food is an obvious necessity and represents a significant expenditure for the American worker. So what if I compared a random sample of grocery items of a union store with a non-union store - which store would be more family-friendly? Which store would help the American worker's wage go farther? Union, or non-union?

Basic rules:

• Items had to be national brands
• Items had to be regular priced, not on special and not lower if the purchaser belonged to any store club
• Items had to be exactly the same - manufacturer, title, size, weight, etc.
• Both stores were compared within 4 hours of this post
  

The Stores:

• Union: Albertsons
• Non-Union: Wal-Mart Super Store
  

The Items:

1. Tostitos (cheese dip) Salsa Con Queso, Med, 23 oz
   Union: $4.99
   Non-Union: $3.18
   
2. Coka Cola, 2 Liter, Classic
   Union: $2.39
   Non-Union: $1.25
   
3. Progresso Soup, Lt, Home Style Veg. & Rice, 18.5 oz
   Union: $3.49
   Non-Union: $1.50
   
4. Best Foods Real Mayo, 64 oz
   Union: $7.99
   Non-Union: $6.19
   
5. Hidden Valley Original Ranch, 24 oz
   Union: $3.28
   Non-Union: $2.98
   
6. Pace Chunky Salsa, 16 oz
   Union: $3.29
   Non-Union: $1.66
   
7. Minute Rice, White, 42 oz
   Union: $6.89
   Non-Union: $4.18
   
8. Betty Croker Potato Buds, 28 oz
   Union: $4.99
   Non-Union: $3.28
   
9. Jimmy Dean Cooked Sausage, 9.6 oz
   Union: $4.99
   Non-Union: $2.23
   
10. Oscar Meyer Premium Beef Franks, 16 oz
    Union: $5.49
    Non-Union: $2.76
    

If you put 2 of each item into your cart, you would have to pay $37.16 more for shopping at a union store:

Union total: $95.58
Non-union total: $58.42

So who do you think helps the American family more - unions or non-unions? Just wait until Barack Obama and his Liberal Congress pass forced unionization!

Meanwhile, the Liberal controlled union puppets in Congress are trying very hard, along with dooms-day threats from union bosses, to dump billions of hard working American taxpayer dollars into the hands of the UAW union.

If you think you have some duty to shop union - then by all means - waste your family's money. The smart shoppers know better!

NOTE: We don't buy any of the items in this survey, so there was no prejudice in what was selected.

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Have A Wonderful Christmas

To those that embrace freedom,

To those that embrace self-determination,

To those that seek less government not more,

To those that embrace goals and the spirit to achieve,

To those that treasure individual freedom and NOT global oppression,

To those that embrace equality and not special interest groups,

To those that embrace competition and not socialist control,

To those that know the difference between legal and illegal immigration,

To those that live within their means and show wisdom in their lives -

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Thought for the weekend:

There's no such thing as Al-Qaeda - the Americans made it up.

Muslim Brotherhood leader Sheikh Mahdi 'Akef, November 30, 2007

A Christmas Carol

My most favorite movie for the Christmas season is Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol. When I was a cute tiny tot I remember staying up Christmas Eve to watch every movie version I could find. There doesn't seem to be as many Christmas movies anymore - sad. However, thanks to DVD technology I have them all (I think), so I can indulge myself whenever.

The Week magazine has a great history of how and why Charles Dickens wrote his famous book in a write-up called The Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told. The condensed version:

Why did Dickens write A Christmas Carol? - He needed the money and wrote it in six weeks.

• Did he have another motive? - Yes. Click the link above to find out!
  
• How did he write it? - He expanded an episode from his first popular success, The Pickwick Papers.
  
• How real were the charactors? - Several were based on people from Dickens' life. For the details, read the article!
  
• How was Dickens' timing? - Wow, very interesting! Read it!
  
• What was the reaction?

It was overwhelmingly positive. The London Sunday Times declared A Christmas Carol "sublime," and William Makepeace Thackeray called it "a national benefit." The cranky Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle's wife recalled that the moment he finished the book, her husband was seized with a "perfect convulsion of hospitality and arranged two dinner parties." One American factory owner was so inspired that he gave his workers an extra day off; the Queen of Norway sent toys bearing the inscription "With Tiny Tim's Love" to the children of London. In its first year in print, A Christmas Carol sold 15,000 copies.

• Was Dickens pleased? - Only up to a point. Read the article to find out why.
  
• Why the enduring popularity? - A Christmas Carol appeals to both religious- and secular-minded readers, and offers one of the most popular themes in myth and fiction: redemption.
  
• What impact has it had on Christmas?

It accelerated the commercialization of the holiday. For all its piety, the underlying message of Dickens' story is that a little greed is good. "Essentially, Dickens is making the argument that it's okay to really like shopping, to really like having parties and enjoying the materialistic part of Christmas," said James Krasner, a professor of English at the University of New Hampshire. "In the end, Scrooge doesn't become a monk who gives away his money. He buys things for people."

Have a safe and joyous Christmas one and all!

Worthy Causes

Yesterday I saw some Mexicans with big signs on 7th street soliciting for donations to help their illegal alien amigos. No way! Now if you feel like giving something to some worthy causes here are some great suggestions to help causes that help others. In particular are those causes that help promote liberty, justice, and the American way.

The USO - a private, nonprofit organization to provide morale, welfare and recreation-type services to our men and women in uniform. The original intent of Congress - and enduring style of USO delivery - is to represent the American people by extending a touch of home to the military.

The Center For Education Reform - Founded in 1993 to translate ideas into action, CER combines education policy with grassroots advocacy to work deep within the nation's communities to foster positive and bold education reforms. They promote freedom of choice - NOT more, bigger government control! Power to parents - NOT government!

The Alliance Defense Fund - Legal defenders of our first liberty. When the communist ACLU or liberals try and suppress freedom of speech or force sex into the public schools of little children or any other forced liberal agenda the ADF protects!

The Judicial Watch - a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. If you don't donate then at least sign up for their free email newsletters and watch how pro-homosexual, pro-socialist, pro-terrorist liberals try and use the courts to force their anti-American agenda on our country.

The FrontPageMag Group - Hardcore reality you won't find on CBS or CNN. It takes money to do proper research. If you don't join their cause at least subscribe to their free mails - if you can handle reality! Check out their Jihad Watch before Jihad comes to you!

The Greenhill Humane Society - donate to this or any humane society in your area. Want a pet? Don't buy one from a store - adopt a pet (like we did) from the humane society!

The Salvation Army - always first on the scene most all of your money will go to help those in need. This is a totally responsible private organization that has done more than all the "efforts" of the United Nations (or government) combined.