I found this picture on a blog of a friend of a friend. I thought it quite humorous. Only in America, my friends.

Ben Stein is Brilliant

For those of you who don't know Ben Stein, he was a speech writer for Nixon and Ford, and an attorney for the former. Hes also the guy in Ferris Bueller's Day off who is calling, "Bueller...Bueller..." He wrote a great commentary on Hollywood and the War in Iraq too. I won't post that but if you are interested, i'll email it to you.

Anyways, I thought this was great. Kind of long but worth the read.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited
by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday,
12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few
confessions from my beating heart: I have no clue
who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of
People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog
biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers
at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and
Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my
life if I know who they are and why they have broken
up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do
not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee
and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just
have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young,
it's not so bad.

My Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors
was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a
"little" bit when people call those beautiful lit
up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel
threatened. I don't feel discriminated against.
That's what they are: Christmas trees!!!
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry
Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting
me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact,
I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers
and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It
doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger
scene on display at a key intersection near my beach
house in Malibu. If people want a crèche, it's just
as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred
yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a
Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting
pushed around for being Christians. I think people
who believe in God are sick and tired of getting
pushed around, period! I have no idea where the
concept came from that America is an explicitly
atheist country. I can't find it in the
Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down
my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the
idea come from that we should worship Nick and
Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we
understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where
Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we
knew went to.
In light of the many jokes we send to one another
for a laugh, this is a little different. This is not
intended to be a joke, it's not funny, it's intended
to get you thinking.
Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the
Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God
let something like this happen?" (Regarding Katrina)
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and
insightful response. She said, "I believe God is
deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for
years we've been telling God to get out of our
schools, to get out of our government and to get out
of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I
believe He has calmly backed out. How can we
expect God to give us His blessing and His
protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack,
school shootings, etc. I think it started when
Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body
found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools,
and we said OK.

Thensomeone said you better not read the Bible in
school because the Bible says thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as
yourself. And we said OK.

Then, Doctor Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't
spank our children when they misbehave because their
little personalities would be warped and we might
damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed
suicide). We said an expert like him should know
what he's talking about. And we said OK.
Now we're asking ourselves why our children have
no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong,
and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers,
their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard
enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great
deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny, how simple it is for people to trash God
and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny, how we believe what the newspapers say, but
question what the Bible says.

Funny, how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and
they spread like wildfire but when you start sending
messages regarding the Lord, people think twice
about sharing.

Funny, how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene
articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public
discussion of God is suppressed in the school and
workplace.

Are you laughing?

Funny, how when you forward this message, you will
not send it to many on your address list because
you're not sure what they believe, or what they will
think of you for sending it.
Funny how we can be more worried about what other
people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not, then
you discard this thought process, don't sit back and
complain about what bad shape the world is in.