Are you really keeping "Christ" in "Christmas" if you are mispronouncing "Christ" each time you say "Christmas" while thinking you are so clever?
Kidding! (well, sorta)
OK, in light of all the bickering with some in the readership, I'll get more serious. Maybe we can even find a path to mutual understanding (but don't go there with this "dreaming of a white Christmas" stuff, as the forecase is already wreaking havoc with my plans for the day).
Based on historical accounts, Jesus was a cool guy. And I can say, with certainty, that he would have been a Democrat (maybe an Independent who voted Democrat).
I don't believe all the supernatural stuff, just like I don't believe that Moses parted the Red Sea.
I think stories get told, over the generations, to the masses in a certain way that they stick. Just like Hollywood does its "based on a true story" thing, the writers -- and re-writers -- of the Bible have done the same. Because many people up until recently in human history were illiterate, much had to be acted out -- or drawn up by artists -- to get these stories across. While it adds to the beauty, not to mention the drama, reality may have suffered.
I'm not saying for sure. I'm an agnostic, remember? Just putting it out there in the universe as food for thought.
A friend of mine -- who is as "Christian" as they come (and I mean that, in this instance, in a good way) -- caught wind of all of my self-imposed heat and sent me this "letter" to pay forward to you.
I was going to run it as a letter to the editor, but we like our building not up in flames.
Nonetheless, even if you disagree (I'm not down with all of it, but it still brought tears to my eyes), give it a read first.

LETTER FROM JESUS ABOUT CHRISTMAS It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season. You want to know how I personally feel about this celebration! I really don't care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn't allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santa’s and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn. If all My followers did that there wouldn't be any need for such a scene or protest, because there would be many of them all around town. Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree , instead of a Christmas tree . It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine, if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 - 8. If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my list. Choose something from it and be the light on the hill. 1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time. 2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don't have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them. 3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don't you write and tell him that you'll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up... It will be nice hearing from you again. 4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can't afford and they don't need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them. 5. Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive them. 6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don't know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference. 7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there.. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren't allowed to wish you a " Merry Christmas " that doesn't keep you from wishing them one. Then stop shopping there on Sunday. If the store didn't make so much money on that day they'd close and let their employees spend the day at home with their families 8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary-- especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name. 9. Here's a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no "Christmas" tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don't know them, buy some food and a few gifts to give them. 10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like my word says. Don't do things in secret that you wouldn't do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine. Don't forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I'll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I'll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember : I LOVE YOU, JESUS

Well, the Golden Era of Temple football has gotten tarnished in a hurry.
Al Golden, perhaps biting off more than he can chew, is headed to the homeland of my people to be the head coach of the Miami Hurricanes (I would have said Miami U., but that would be implying that it's actually a university) to be the head coach (hope they are as patient with his game-day Tom Foolery as we were).
On the heels of getting snubbed for a second consecutive bowl bid, it was the knockout blow following the jab.
All I ever wanted was to have an alma mater who won more football games than it lost each season, with a chance for a league title and minor bowl game as a reward for being a big fish in a small pond.
Well, the fish of reality swam up and bit me -- and all those who feel the same way -- on the arse.
Golden is gone, and the winning records here are soon to follow. The Owls will be OK next year. There is a sound returning nucleus, so my wife could probably coach them to seven or eight wins, but a slow and steady decline to familiar surrounding is soon to follow.
It's not like a surprise I guess. Having Golden here was like dating a hot chick who is out of your weight class. Sooner or later, she is going to give the old: "I need to grow as a person. It's not you, it's me. I hope we can still be friends."
I get it, but ... did it have to be now -- right before the prom?

A little bit overdue, but we'll take it! Read on, read on, read until your dreams come true ...

Doors' Morrison pardoned in indecent exposure case

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON and SUZETTE LABOY, Associated Press Brendan Farrington And Suzette Laboy, Associated Press 11 mins ago

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jim Morrison was posthumously pardoned Thursday for a 1970 indecent exposure conviction in Florida, a move a woman who said she was married to The Doors lead singer called a cheap political ploy.

Morrison, a Florida native, was appealing the conviction when he was found dead in a Paris bathtub in 1971 at age 27. The pardon came a day after the singer would have turned 67.

Outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist asked for the pardon, which the Clemency Board granted unanimously. Crist said he doubts Morrison actually exposed his penis during a rowdy March 1, 1969 concert at Miami's Dinner Key Auditorium. He and a three-member Cabinet serve as the Clemency Board. The surviving members of The Doors supported the pardon.

Crist at the hearing called the conviction a "blot" on the record of an accomplished artist for "something he may or may not have done." He said Morrison died before he was afforded the chance to present his appeal, so Crist was doing that for him. Board members pointed out several times that they couldn't retry the case but that the pardon forgave Morrison, as others were absolved of their convictions on Thursday.

"In this case the guilt or innocence is in God's hands, not ours," Crist said.

Patricia Kennealy Morrison told The Associated Press before the board's action that she's not pleased with the pardon and doesn't think the late singer would be either because he didn't expose himself on stage. The conviction should be expunged or the verdict overturned rather than just pardoned, she said.

"The pardon says that all his suffering and all that he went through during the trial, everything both of us went through, was negated," she said.

Earlier, when asked about expunging Morrison's record or overturning the conviction, Crist said, "The option before us is the pardon or not."

Still, it's not enough, Kennealy Morrison said.

"He felt and he expressed to me on numerous occasions that he had been made a scapegoat of the counterculture movement," Kennealy Morrison said. "He was out there doing what he did, making himself a really easy target because he felt very strongly about it. Unfortunately they decided to go after him for it. It was a complete cheap, cynical, political ploy. That's the way I feel about the pardon."

Kennealy Morrison exchanged vows with Morrison in a Celtic pagan ceremony overseen by a licensed minister, she said. The marriage was valid, though she says she never filed the paperwork to put it in the books. Morrison left his entire estate to another woman, Pamela Courson, a longtime girlfriend who was with him in Paris when he died. Courson died in 1974.

Surviving band members say a drunken Morrison teased the crowd, but never exposed himself.

"It never actually happened. It was mass hypnosis," Ray Manzarek, The Doors' keyboard player, said in an interview before the vote.

Honestly, the way the Temple football team crawled across the finish line this season, I wasn't expecting a bid to one of the myriad of minor bowl games that pop up like corner Christmas Tree vendors this time of year.
Yes, the Owls passed the bottom-line 6-win plateau for bowl eligibility after 8 games and were siting pretty at 8-2 after 10 games.
But with several starters on the shelf -- including running back Bernard Pierce, a flat-out stud on the rare days when he is healthy -- the Owls lost two key league games, to Ohio and Miami (Ohio), to close out the regular season.
I wondered if 8-4 is good enough. And being that Temple has only been competitive the last few years, I'm a newbie to the whole process.
I turned to the Internet, which is loaded with about a trillion sites of bowl projections. The first one I checked had Temple out in the cold.
Since I wasn't expecting warmth, I was fine with it.
The others, though, had the Owls going somewhere -- Sun Bowl, New Mexico Bowl, Humanitarian Bowl -- against opponents ranging from Utah to Miami (Fla.).
The projections were so consistent that I stopped worrying about the notion that Temple, at 8-4, would not be considered as one of the top 70 teams (there are 35 bowl games, hence the math) in the nation.
I started to warm myself by the fire of the opinions of what are probably bloggers taking breaks from popping their zits.
Although I had my doubts, given the injuries and lack of depth to fill the voids, that they would avoid embarrassment, I still believed that that going to a bowl game in successive years for the first time in school history was a good thing overall.
Plus, as I broke it down, I could see where those lurking in the online shadows making the projections were coming from.
Temple had beaten UConn, which is going to a BSC bowl. They beat another bowl team in Army. With a healthy Pierce, and a quarterback with a pulse, they may have even beaten Penn State in Happy Valley. And, as it turns out, there were no "bad losses." No one who beat the Owls in 2010 had a losing record and, as it turns out, all were perceived as good enough to receive bowl bids.
Additonally, Temple beat a Villanova team that is still in the postseason in the NCAA sub-division.
Not a bad resume.
Maybe I was being to hard on the team for kind of coming up small at season's end. Maybe they deserved a bowl appearance after all.
I was reinvigorated.
Temple even planned a selection party Sunday, so I figured the school's powers that be already knew -- albeit unofficially -- that a bid was coming.
I went to Atlantic City for the weekend without giving it a second thought.
When I finally got home Sunday, the bowl list was not even the first I sought out when I booted up the computer.
When I did check it out, it was going to be more a matter of where and when than if they were going to a bowl game.
But, for the first time ever, an 8-win team was left out in the cold in favor of a plethora of 7- and even 6-win teams.
That team getting the cold shoulder?
Not Notre Dame. Not Miami (Fla.).
Temple.
Turns out the only bowl that even considered the Owls was one the prognosticators didn't even mention, the New Orleans Bowl, and that bid went to the Ohio that Temple lost to during the swoon and the end of the season.
That makes sense, but the process is enough to make one's head spin.

All you doubters of Global Warming, I'm calling you out.
Did you read the story on Page B6 of the 12/3/10 edition of The Times Herald about 2010 on track to rank in the hottest three years ever recorded?
You would think that would be enough. You would think that the other years were in, like, 1953 and 1874.
You would think wrong.
They were in 1998 and 2005.
I'll do the math. The three hottest years -- at least since hotness could be tracked -- are all in the last dozen years.
Break out that sunblock. Get out the inhalers.
Set up Sea World in the Antarctic to watch the polar bears try to swim.
Anybody care -- or dare -- to call this a myth concocted by the mainstream media?
With a straight face?
Really?