Hattiesburg, Mississippi is home to the University of Southern Mississippi and its Golden Eagles, including Brett Favre, and is located squarely in the "Bible Belt." Perhaps that is why it was surprising to us to learn that a sixth-grade student in Hattiesburg ran into problems when he wrote about Jesus in a school assignment regarding the meaning of Christmas. Student Andrew White’s assignment was to write a poem on what Christmas meant to him, and Andrew wrote that "Christmas is about Jesus’ birth." Makes sense, right?

If you think so, then you are forgetting that we now live in a "PC" world, where the "traditional" is often discarded like last week’s newspaper. Andrew’s teacher asked him to rewrite the poem–and not mention Jesus this time around. In an email to Andrew’s mother, the teacher reportedly said "I know we can’t discuss these types of things in school so I asked the two of them [another child had also mentioned Jesus] to do another poem of their choice."

We don’t like inaccurate stereotypes which those outside the South hold about the South. Therefore, we do not mean to do the same thing ourselves regarding those outside the South, but we would not have been surprised to find the above occurring in certain areas of this country which appear to be almost overrun by "secular-progressives." We didn’t think that was the case in this neck of the woods, and we still don’t. But, if students really are assigned to write about the "meaning of Christmas," then what is in effect "censorship" should not be applied to that which is produced by those students.

In a change of both the subject and the geography, consider the present status of the senatorial election in Minnesota. Somehow, a lead of over 700 votes by Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) has evaporated into about a 50-vote lead for his oppenent, comedian Al Franken. How #37 on Bernard Goldberg’s list of 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America got so many votes against a sitting Senator is beyond us, in the first place. A sign of the times, and perhaps of the Apocalypse.

What is just as distressing is the complete lack of investigative concern from Big Media–if you read much about what is going on with the "recount" in that election, then most of what you read or hear is from non-liberal media outlets. How is it that Al Franken keeps being awarded the bigger share of these "re-counted" votes?

At this point, we would bet that Al Franken firmly believes in Santa Claus.

Like so many others, we are not fans of the various bailouts that have taken place and are still being considered. Our grandchildren and their children are being given a debt that they may never be able to repay.