Happy New Year!
Author Archives: scottsoapbox
U.S. Stingy, France Froogle?
A member of the UN has criticized the U.S. for being stingy in it’s relief efforts after the Tsunami. This is in spite of the fact that the United States has already pledged $35 Million to the cause, the largest of any nation. France by comparision has pledged $136,000, but no one seems to be giving them grief.
But the numbers are actually much farther apart than that: The U.S. is spending Millions to quickly airlift in large amounts of food and other aid in ADDITION to the $35M in monetary aid. Also, unlike Norway where the UN critic is from, all charitable contributions do not flow through the government. American Citizens have historically and will again I’m sure give millions of dollars without government direction to aid groups such as the red cross to help the countries and people affected by this natural disaster.
UPDATE: Apparently France noticed that most countries were giving cash amounts with a few more 0s and have now upped their donation to 1.3 Mil.
A Christmas Tune Revisited
Ok, I found the song that I had been thinking of earlier. I should have realized that it was older than the work by Rich Mullins but OH WELL… whataya gonna do? So a little late for this year or really early for next year here is my Christmas song pick for the year: The Outlaw by Larry Norman.
With a band of unschooled ruffians, and a few old fishermen.
No one knew just where he came from, or exactly what he’d done,
But they say it must have been something bad, that kept him on the run.
Some say he was a poet, that he’d stand upon the hill,
That his voice could calm an angry crowd, or make the waves stand still,
That he spoke in many parables, that few could understand,
But the people sat for hours, just to listen to this man.
Some say he was a sorcerer, a man of mystery.
He could walk upon the water. He could make a blind man see,
That he conjured wine at weddings, and did tricks with fish and bread,
That he talked of being born again, and raised people from the dead.
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Merry Christ-mas!
Merry Christmas everyone! While Christmas is a time of family, friends, christmas trees, decorations, eggnog (a personal favorite), Santa, presents, a few classic movies (you’ll shoot your eye out kid!) — it is also a celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Son of Joseph a Carpenter, Jesus was THE most influential person of ALL TIME. Don’t believe me? Check the date.
A.D. stands for Anno Domini: “In the year of the lord” – it indicates a year counted from the traditional date of birth of Jesus; recently the P.C. crowd has tried to introduce the Common Era (C.E.) as a replacement to remove religious implications.
The interesting thing about Jesus is that he never obtained an advanced degree, never held a political office, never wrote a book, never traveled very far from his home, never comanded an army, never amassed possessions beyond the clothes on his back — and yet he changed the world. Argue that the change was good or bad, fine. But you can’t argue that he didn’t make an impact.
Merry Christ-mas-like Tune
I honor of the birth of the Christ, I have chosen a tune about Jesus. This song was recorded as a demo by Rich Mullins on to a something called a cassette tape (remember those things?) shortly before he died.
I find this song interesting as it kindof ponders the many ways that Jesus is regarded: Prophet, Teacher, Insurgent… I swear there is a longer version of this song somewhere… but Google is letting me down. Oh well, perhaps i will find it some day.
Well, I wonder if He’s got something up His sleeve
Where’s He from? Who is His daddy?
There’s rumors He even thinks Himself a king
Of a kingdom of paupers
Simpletons and rogues
The whores all seem to love Him
And the drunks propose a toast