Crossing the pond... again.

First off this week, I want to thank everyone reading for sending me all of your kind support. Your letters and prayers get me through the tough days and for that I thank you. From time to time I will post various concerns, but for now a good memory and tremendous motivation is what I could use most. Now on with the show...

Ten more days stand between me and two glorious weeks in Texas. It must be ten because I've counted and recounted the scratch marks on my prison cell wall and every time it adds up to ten more days. Getting back to the ranch for Christmas with my family and girlfriend is all that I can think about lately. However, it always seems like a dream until I'm on the plane leaving the ground. So today in review I give you the Trans-Atlantic Flight...

24 hours of torture is the price to pay (on top of a good chunk of $$) for the two weeks of holiday at home. First, Israeli airport security is how we say...uh... thorough. I don't even bother packing anymore until I am past the gauntlet of x-rays and interrogations. Second, if I am unfortunate enough to get a middle seat, there will inevitably be two fat old men on both sides who encroach upon my very expensive armrests. What should be a comfortable seat turns into a cold border war rivaled only by the likes of North and South Korea. And third, sleep is impossible but also unavoidable. The time spent in a haze of waking exhaustion gives me the chance to ponder how difficult it must be for the airline to add a bit of cushion to an airplane seat and how rewarding it must be to travel with a baby.

In all fairness, air travel has come a long way. No longer are we stuck with one or two unbearable movies, but we now have a selection to choose from and meals aren't as uniform either. Although the food could still stand to be cooked by a living human being instead of an assembly line, at least the attendants dish it out on an hourly basis. Hunger is nonexistent but boredom makes for a great appetite anyway.

The moral of this story is that no matter what the airline throws at me this year, I will endure it for my family and friends, for Christmas, for Texas, and for freedom! Safe travels to you all. See you soon. Merry Christmas.

The War on Christmas

Since today is Dec 1st, I feel no guilt in starting a review about Christmas. Usually it would be about warm feelings and family memories, but I'm afraid that I have a more important issue to address.

John Gibson, an opinion anchor on Fox News Channel, wrote a book called The War on Christmas and it posts concerns about the trend in recent years to phase out Christmas from the public world. John's (and my) beef with political correctness is not a new one and this addresses only one facet of a much larger problem, but it's a place to start.

The politically correct (PC) crowd started this war when they influenced stores and businesses around the country to replace "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings". They state that the phrase using the name of the holiday is offensive to the minority so we should now impose restrictions on when and where this holiday is observed, even though 85% of Americans claim to be Christian of some type. Songs in school pagents have been cancelled, employees have been reprimanded for using the Christmas phrase, the colors red and green have been banned from streets in Plano, Tx for this part of the year. What?!? Since when is Christmas illegal and when does being offended mean the majority can't celebrate a holiday we love in public? I for one will say "Merry Christmas" to whoever I feel like and if they don't like it then they can hate me for all I care.

Let me turn the tables for a second. For the last year and a half I have lived as a minority in a predominantly Jewish and Muslim country. When their holidays roll around do I sue them if they say various holiday related phrases to me? Does it cause me to feel unwelcome in stores that celebrate them or alienate me from the people that do? NO, of course not! In fact, I have never felt more welcome in homes and families that I visit than on holidays.

So what is this? Is it really about making sure that people don't feel offended or unwelcome? Or is it one more step in the subtle secularization of America? I know what I think.... Merry Christmas everyone.