Merry Christmas...it's still the Christmas Season after all!

Merry Christmas!!!

I know, I'm a day late. Yesterday I had a self-imposed no computer day. I even left the TV off for most of the day, which my wife will tell you is a huge accomplishment. I just wanted to focus on God and family yesterday. After all, God and family are supposed to be the 2 most important parts of my life, so I should be able to put them ahead of the Lakers/Celtics match up on ABC.

Yesterday we went to Christmas morning mass, and the place was packed! In the past, the morning mass has been very lightly attended (most people go on Christmas Eve), but this year, our parish moved the time back 1 hour, and bammo, full house! While parking was stressful, it was heartwarming to see all my fellow Christians gathered together to celebrate Christ's birth.

Then, we had a family day yesterday. The kids spent a lot of it playing with new toys and reading new books. We had a very nice supper. Prior to eating, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. This is a tradition my wife started a few years ago. Originally, I thought it was corny, but now I can't imagine Christmas without it.

At bed time, my son said that it was too bad Christmas is over. We reminded him that the Christmas season is not over until the Epiphany, so the season will continue until January 6th. We started the tradition of leaving our tree up until the Epiphany, just as a reminder of the entire holy season.

I hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas Day, and continues to have a wonderful Christmas season.

Movie Review: Hellboy II

Yes, that's right. I'll watch just about anything. I watched "Hellboy II" last night, and enjoyed it. I was very disappointed by the first Hellboy movie. There was so much potential with the story and it got bogged down by too much other stuff, like the relationship between Hellboy and Liz Sherman.

With the relationship stuff sort of solved by the first Hellboy movie, the second installment had much more of what I expected from the first movie. The special effects were excellent. Nothing cartoonish in this movie. The action sequences were very well done. While the story was better than the last movie, it's still not great, but definitely an improvement.

Ron Perlman, who portrays Hellboy does a very good job in the role of the soft-hearted, slightly self-centered hero. Selma Blair and Jeffrey Tambor highlight the rest of the cast. Tambor was a nice edition to this film as the bumbling government agent assigned to keep an eye on Hellboy and his cast of misfits.

I would give this one 3.5 stars...since Netflix doesn't allow half stars, I gave it 4 on Netflix. If there's a 3rd movie in the series, I'll definitely watch it.

Compassionate Conservatism

I was listening to Rush Limbaugh today, and I often do, and he was discussing the charitable giving trends of Conservatives (Republicans) and Liberals (Democrats). One of the main sources of the discussion was the book “Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism" by Arthur Brooks. The conclusion of the book, is that while Liberals are widely viewed as more compassionate because of their view that the government should redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, it is Conservatives who are far more charitable with their own money, giving an average of over 30% more to charitable organizations.

While I'm sure this is surprising to those who pay attention to the drive-by media's portrayal of Conservatives as mean-spirited misers, this doesn't come as a surprise to me. In fact, it's consistent with my image of a true Conservative.

As I see it, a Conservative believes that government, for the most part, doesn't work! If something doesn't work, why pay money into it? A Conservative believes that they can do more with their money than the government can. While Liberals rely on the government to solve the problems of society, the Conservative looks for ways they can help, rather than relying on someone else to get it done. This is where charitable giving comes in. Conservatives look for charities that most align with the causes they are passionate about and then they help those causes with their time and money.

Typically, these are charities in their own community, such as churches, museums, nature centers, youth programs, etc., etc., etc. While these types of organizations don't garner national attention, they are important to every community nationwide.

This is one of the toughest things about being a Conservative. It's very easy to see a problem and say "that's horrible, the government should really do something about that." It's much harder to see a problem and say "that's horrible, how can I help to fix this" because when you say that you're committing your time and your money. When you put it on the government you are committing someone else's time and money. I think this is why Conservatism is so much harder to sell than Liberalism.

Anyway, that's the long rambling way around debunking the notion that Conservatives are greedy misers who would put their own grandmother on the street if it helped them earn a buck. We really are a charitable people, as the study by Mr. Brooks clearly demonstrates. So, the next time you hear the media or a Liberal portraying a Conservative as a cold-hearted sack of garbage, remember it's all lies and propaganda.

The Nightmare Scenario

So, 2 weeks ago, my Denver Broncos were 8-5 and headed for the playoffs. The 2nd place team is the San Diego Chargers and they were 5-8 two weeks ago. Here we are 2 weeks later and the Broncos are 8-7 while the Chargers have climbed to 7-8. The Broncos just finished up losing a home game to a bad Buffalo Bills team, while the Chargers destroyed a really good Tampa Bay team on the road. Next week, the 2 teams play, with the winner getting the division title.

This was my nightmare scenario as a fan. The Chargers are the better team, but they've underachieved all year. As a fan, I know what the Broncos are. The Broncos are a 1 man show...basically, if QB Jay Cutler plays awesome, they win. If he plays anything less than awesome, they lose. I know that the Broncos defense is close to the worst in the NFL, and that their running game has bordered on pathetic all year. Basically, I'm saying that they really have no business going to the playoffs.

With that said, I was really hoping they would make it to the playoffs this year. The team is full of a bunch of young guys, and a playoff game, even a loss, would be great experience for future seasons. But, it appears that it's not to be. I don't believe the Broncos will beat the Chargers next week. Like I said, the Chargers are the better team, plus they should have won earlier this season in Denver, but they had a bad call go against them.

I hope I'm wrong about all this and next week I get to write a blog celebrating a victory. But, I fear that, like Chicago Cubs fans, I will be saying "wait 'til next year". Overall, I think I'm handling this very well. I'm disappointed, but not as mad as I thought I would be. I won't be watching any more football tonight because it will bum me out to see the scores go by, but I'll be tuned in next week hoping that the Broncos will upset the Chargers and make it to the playoffs.