Black Friday 2010: Holiday Shopping Season Kicks Off

Stayed up and fought the crowds and sneaky stores once. That convinced me that Black Friday should be spent doing anything but shopping. Why stand in line all night for Best Buy and get trampled & gouged trying to grab that gift when you can sit home all cozy in your jammies, just press "Add to Cart" on your computer and be done with it? Or waste all night at Wally World only to find out the good stuff was hidden away and assigned to a select few before the sale began. Is saving a few bucks really worth all the aggravation? The hours standing in lines? Getting pushed around by folks getting more angry and impatient by the second?
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<em>With God on Our Side</em> -- Christian Zionism Exposed

It's interesting how much over-generalization there usually is when discussing Christians, Evangelicals or Jews, let alone an issue that involves them all. We take for granted that the loudest and most prominent voices represent everyone in a category. There are more varieties of Christians than paint samples at Sherwin Williams. Most live quiet lives with varying degrees of faith and adherence to tenets of their church. And those who claim to be "God's voice" are often so far removed from the things Jesus taught he wouldn't recognize them.



I'm a Christian, and have done my share of teaching others in years past, but I don't look at the Jews as a stepping stone in my quest to bring the end of days closer. I revere the people and places where the gospel first developed. They helped set the stage for the birth and life of my Savior. Their history and stories can have value in our lives. I look at the Jews as neighbors, human beings like us. Also as a society who were once "chosen and blessed" but have become a "hiss and a byword" just as the scriptures predicted. It shouldn't have to be that way. I don't have any agenda for promoting Armageddon. I'd much rather see folks come to their senses, shake hands and sit down at the table to work things out.



Christian, Atheist, Jew... labels to call attention to differences and ignore how we should all work together.
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Aretha Franklin Cancels Appearances Through May

In her prime Franklin was the queen. People change over the years, though. Now she can't sing, and with all these health issues it appears she's being displayed by her handlers purely for the money. Aging stars and comeback careers. There's something to be said for nostalgia. But Aretha's legacy stand on its own. Parading her for the crowds and cameras now only chips away at the memory of her monumental earlier work.



She had it all and retired with it. The total opposite of those Whitney types who had it all and snorted it away. Let the magic of the past be. Now's the time for healing and living. Much better to remember her as a giant in the music industry, and one who later struggled with physical problems courageously and even valiantly, rather than one who struggles to carry a tune in a bucket.
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