A Meaningless Milestone

Bart wrote on the blackboard in the opening of "The Simpsons" 100th episode, "I will not celebrate meaningless milestones."

Perhaps the Obama administration should have paid attention and not orchestrated a week's worth of "First Hundred Days" events opening with an Air Force One flyby of the Statue of Liberty that scared the socks off of thousands of New Yorkers.
My list of accomplishments probably differs from the multitude of clichés the President threw out Wednesday night.

I wouldn’t brag about nationalizing banks and auto companies; destroying more than a third of the personal wealth in pension and retirement funds; compromising our national security by releasing CIA classified secrets on torture and canceling the F-22 program; mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren to create make-work jobs for ACORN organizers; and hiring every tax cheating Democrat has-been to staff his administration.

The President's poll numbers are still high (and will never change among some groups) but voters are seeing a disturbing trend in actions that move us further away from the America that most of us are proud of and closer to one that Obama has to apologize incessantly for.

What's An Ebenezer?

The Chancel Choir sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on Sunday. It's one of our favorites, but contains the line "Here I Raise my Ebenezer" that also raised a few questions.

What's an Ebenezer?

Guesses ranged from images of Ebenezer Scrooge to that of a cup of good cheer. Our resident sage is a retired pastor emeritus who opined that it was an ornately carved pipe.

That still didn’t sound right, so the Google answer is:

1 Samuel 7: 12-14 -- Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, "Thus far the LORD has helped us."

The word "Ebenezer" comes from Hebrew and is actually two words pronounced together: Even Haazer.

Literally speaking, an Ebenezer is a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid. Spiritually and theologically speaking, an Ebenezer can be nearly anything that reminds us of God’s presence and help: the Bible, the Sacramental Elements, a cross, a picture, a fellow believer, a hymn – those things which serve as reminders of God’s love, God’s Real Presence, and God’s assistance are "Ebenezers."

So when we sing, "Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come..." remember that we are only here through God's help.

DTV Is Coming, DTV Is Coming!

Don't you hate reruns on TV? The worst one is the daily reminder that there are now only 48 days until the digital transition.

It seems I have heard this before. Yes, the move from analog TV signal to digital was supposed to come Feb. 17 and broadcast hyped it like to countdown to the end of the world.

Since the change could have affected the three dozens viewers who still hadn't tuned in to the change; limiting their ability to watch the coronation of the new president, Congress flip-flopped and moved the required change to June 12.

Some stations changed immediately, some waited. Most in Atlanta are still broadcasting in the old analog format.

I was expecting story after story about some poor TV viewer who hadn't heard of the switch, hadn't made the switch, and couldn't afford to make the switch. But so far; silence.

It didn’t bother us since we were on cable. But with a changeover to AT&T U-verse, we had a TV upstairs that we didn’t want to pay $5 a month to add to the plan. I have now added an antenna and a converter box (I got the $40 rebate) to provide an ASTC signal.

The new box and TV provide a picture that is as good or better than some of the others sets in the house. We are now ready for the second coming of DTV.