A Christmas Thought
During the course of the Christmas weekend the only thing that saturated the air more than warm Christmas blessings was perhaps the cold snow in many of the mid-western states. Online friends’ statuses capitulated Yuletide greetings on Facebook; but there was one status that you just looked at and could not help but feel a sense of awe.
God, with us.
Three simple words that reverberate in the breasts of Christians around the world. Providence gracing the world which He created, born of a virgin, and knowing ultimately that He will pay through material life, for the non-material salvation of mankind. How can you not be bewildered by such a premise, or completely awestruck by the ramifications of such a tale?
Of course, there are myriad people who are quick on the draw when it comes to the arguments over the level of “Pagan influence” in our modern Christmas celebration, or the fact that technically Christ was not born on the day during which we celebrate his birth. Let us not over complicate this current discussion by throwing all of these ingredients into the Christmas stew; but rather, it should behoove us to truly appreciate how all of these small contributions have helped to create what we understand as an almost universal meaning for Christmas. The reason why we celebrate Christmas is articulated so beautifully and concisely through the solemn whispering of those three words: God, with us.
Whether or not you are Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Deist or even atheist, it is important and proper for us to understand the significance of this celebration for Christians. God among man, of flesh and blood. Whether or not you believe that this was the case should be set aside, and for this moment in our lives we can reflect on the importance of such a man in history, or such a God among us.
Merry Christmas.
-rj
International Christmas Celebrations
Pope Benedict XVI gave the traditional Mass yesterday after being knocked down by a woman who is suspected to be mentally unstable. He was apparently unhurt, and finished the ceremony with no further incident. However, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray broke his leg after falling when the woman jumped over security barriers.
In Bethlehem, the birth place of Jesus Christ, a very diverse and joyous celebration was held, utilizing various Christmas traditions. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, a Muslim, attended an Orthodox Christmas Mass.
Others had greater difficulties, including Christians in the Phillipines who are dealing with an erupting volcano and troops in Iraq.
Despite the difficulties, threats and general negatives in the world, the fact that the troops and those in danger in the Phillipines are able to find some way to celebrate Christmas is yet another sign that God is watching out for those who trust in Him. Too, a diverse celebration in Bethlehem attended by a President of Palestine- following in the tradition of attendance started by former president Yassar Arafat- gives me some hope for the future of that part of the world. Things don’t always go as we want them to, but the power of prayer, faith, hope and love can and do create wonders for Christians and the world as a whole.
Again, Merry Christmas, everyone.
Merry Christmas
To our fans and followers, as well as everyone else,
Merry Christmas, and God Bless. May He watch over you, your families and loved ones, those who cannot be with their families today and those who are otherwise struggling with difficulties.
I stole the following from The New Hampshire Union Leader:
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following editorial, first published in The New York Sun in 1897, has become a Christmas favorite for its poetic defense of faith. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Merry Christmas.
DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.”
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?Virginia O’Hanlon
115 West Ninety-Fifth St.Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Personal Democracy Forum: The Future of the Conservative Movement
I?m sitting in a bar.
These things must be qualified though, right?
So I?m sitting in a sports bar.? Sports bars are particular entities of the bar world in that they have televisions with sports playing on them while they serve the spirits of the normal bar.? This isn?t to say that normal bars don?t show sports on their televisions.? It just means that they are normally called something that starts with ?Mc? and they have fewer televisions.
This particular sports bar has a sponsor.? It?s a Fox Sports Bar.? Not to be confused as Fox, sports bar.? But rather it is a Fox Sports, bar.
Like I said, these things must be qualified.? Also not to be confused with quantified, which would be to essentially count something.? And I?m pretty sure there is only one of me here and there is only one Fox Sports, bar present at this time.? But that could change depending on the terminal.
Ah, yes.? I?m in a terminal.? Not conditionally, but in the transitional sense.? In this case transferring myself to a plan, which has now been delayed two hours.? If you thought to yourself, ?Bummer,? it was an understatement because I was already two hours early to the original flight.
Bummer.
So I?m sitting in a Fox Sports, bar, that resides in a terminal that is a part of an airport for which I am awaiting a plane to board which will take me to Atlanta four hours from now.
I?m involved in all of this because I have recently, at the point of this writing, left the Personal Democracy Forum Conference of the year 2009.? Following day one of the event I was certainly frustrated.? There were a number of reasons for this.? For one, which I?ve already mentioned, I was beleaguered by the progressive presence.? Yes, we are all tech people at this conference and we all want to talk about the influence of tech on politics.? But there are certain things that, while all of that is true, tech people on the left and right just don?t see eye to eye.
For instance, I do not want network neutrality regulated. Period.? Tech proponents of such a step are short sighted.? Talk to someone who manages a large infrastructure.? They will tell you that network management of packet transfer must take place.? Good luck with the regulated network neutrality Internet when your whole neighborhood is trying to get time sensitive streaming 1080p video across your network at the same time and we have locked in regulation that will take ages to alter.? In the spirit of Monty Python, ?I laugh in your general direction.?? Is network neutrality important?? Absolutely.? I will not argue that point.? But regulated neutrality is an entirely different beast.
But I digress.
Panelists were over heard making the following comments:
?This is what we need to do to see ?progressive? health care reform.?
?We need to pray to god for a hot summer to make people believe that global warming is real.?
?The ?Bush? recession.?
Additionally all our problems were blamed on the Bush Administration.? Obviously our current problems are entirely his fault, along with Batman, Darth Vader, and probably God.
My point in bringing this up is that if the objective of PDF is to study the convergence of politics and technology, then let?s do that.? It doesn?t necessitate bringing ideology into the mix.
I honestly believe that is what Andrew Rasiej and co-Founder Micah Sifry are trying to do.
I in no way believe there is an underlying motivation of promoting the ideals of the left.? And with that being said, heaps of praise must be bestowed on these two gentlemen for their fine work in putting together this conference since 2004.? It is interesting to consider the timing of this conference and the swelling online that began in Summer last year for Obama.? One must consider if more conservative presence (as in the attendees) was existent at last years event, how that may have altered the online dominance of the left during the election.? I don’t want to be ignorant enough to give PDF complete credit for what occurred.? But if 1000 people left the conference, and each one told 10 people, and those 10 people told 10 people…? You could see how easily the ball gets rolling.
The conference, all things considered, was a wonderful treat.? One that I would not have experienced without the Google Fellowship and PDF?s recognition of the work my fellow authors and I have done on this site, which I am of eternal gratitude.
The conference provided tremendous insight into developing web presence, establishing a bond and communication with your audience, and tools that can over night transform a site from drab to dapper.? The information of connecting with constituency and remodeling government websites to better connect and be more transparent with the citizenry is vital to the success of government in general and additionally vital to the revitalization of the GOP and conservatism in general.
This is a conversation that I hope more conservatives take more seriously and can join in on in the future.? It is no secret that the left ignored talk radio early on and allowed the center-right to take a dominating lead.? One that is irrecoverable for the left, as multiple failed attempts with Air America make astoundingly clear.? It should be very becoming very apparent to the right that if they ignore the convergence of technology and politics in the same arrogant manner that the left did to talk radio that at some point the strangle hold in the areas of internet technology and constituency connectivity will equally be unrecoverable.
Show stoppers:
Best Moment: Finally hearing Tara Hunt explain live and in her own words what ?Whuffie? is.? Equally great was getting to finally meet Tara after spending months Twitting with her.
Worst Moment: As mentioned in a previous column, the final panel of day one with Josh Silver, Executive Director of FreePress, was unbearably one sided.? Conservatives question the positions of telecoms as well.? But with no one there to present the center-right view on the future of telecommunications with regard to Internet regulation and expansion, the debate was completely one sided and a slaughter fest for Silver.? My memory may not be entirely accurate, but at one point I believe he rolled them over and actually stuck a fork in the gentlemen from Comcast & AT&T.
My Jaw Dropped To The Floor And The Girl Next To Me With The Mac Had To Pick It Up For Me Award: Easily goes to Apture.? If you are running any sort of online content machine or blog and do not have this application installed you will without a doubt be left in the dust!? This app allows you to finally start linking to outside content without sending your readership away from your site, keeping them right where you want them to be; reading your material and clicking your ads.? If you haven’t noticed, it has already been seamlessly integrated into our site.
Most Fun Presentation: Michael Wesch, The Machine is (Changing) Us: YouTube Culture and the Politics of Authenticity.
Most Thought Provoking Presentation: Danah Boyd, The Not-So-Hidden Politics of Class Online.
I want to encourage more conservatives to take this intersection more seriously, and see them next year at PDF 2010.
Thanks for a great conference.? I was very happy to be a part of the conversation!
-nick
