To listen to the "Parable of the Birds" click the Sounds of the Past Button on the top left of this page (if you haven't already) and Paul Harvey will roll right into your room! /B>

Paul Harvey News and Commentary has been a radio broadcast since November 1950. My Dad remembers when Paul Harvey, a young reporter for the Chicago Tribune, made big news in the late 1940's by climbing over the fence at the top-secret Argonne Labratory (atomic lab) southwest of Chicago to prove that the security at the facility was not what it should have been at the time. That was front page stuff back then.

With over fifty years of broadcast experience Paul Harvey has long since become an institution and an icon of American Radio. To this day he is probably still one of the best know voices on radio. In Atlanta, his home station is WGST-AM who airs him at 8:30 am, 11:45 am, and his Rest of the Story during the Kimmer Show at 6:30 pm. In Denver KOA-AM at 850 on the dial is his home and airs at the same time as Atlanta. You will find him in your city probably on the "best" talk show outlet.

Harkening back to the days of Bill Stern and, in the opinion of my Dad, copying Bill Sterns delivery including the page one, page two reporter style verbal presentation, Harvey has brought us news and human interest pieces over the many years with his "News and Commentary" in the morning and at noon, and the "Rest of the Story" programs his son now writes in the evening. On all his broadcasts Harvey brings a special style of newsmanship and salesmanship, served with generous portions of his warm and winning personality. Human interest, a friendly nod to evangelical thought, honesty in his presentation and real news have won the hearts of millions of people. -- Chris Plunkett

God has told us his secret reason for sending Christ, a plan he decided on in mercy long ago; and this was his purpose: that when the time was ripe he will gather us all together from wherever we are -- in heaven or on earth -- to be with him in Christ forever. Moreover, because of what Christ has done we have become gifts to God that he delights in, for as part of God's sovereign plan we were chosen from the beginning to be his, and all things happened just as he decided long ago. God's purpose in this was that we should praise God and give glory to him for doing these mighty things for us, who were the first to trust in Christ.

And because of what Christ did, all you others too, who heard the Good News about how to be saved, and trusted Christ, were marked as belonging to Christ by the Holy Spirit, who long ago had been promised to all of us Christians. His presence within us is God's guarantee that he really will give us all that he promised; and the Spirit's seal upon us means that God has already purchased us and that he guarantees to bring us to himself. This is just one more reason for us to praise our glorious, living God. Here's the Scripture I'm referring to:

BUT NOW, IN THESE DAYS, HE HAS SPOKEN TO US THROUGH HIS SON TO WHOM HE HAS GIVEN EVERYTHING, AND THROUGH WHOM HE MADE THE WORLD AND EVERYTHING THERE IS.

GOD'S SON SHINES OUT WITH GOD'S GLORY, AND ALL THAT GOD'S SON IS AND DOES MARKS HIM AS GOD. HE REGULATES THE UNIVERSE BY THE MIGHTY POWER OF HIS COMMAND. HE IS THE ONE WHO DIED TO CLEANSE US FROM OUR SIN AND CLEAR THE RECORD OF ALL OUR SIN. NOW HE SITS IN HIGHEST HONOR BESIDE THE GREAT GOD OF HEAVEN.

Ephesians 1:9-14 The Living Bible published by Tyndale, Wheaton, IL

"God didn't intentionally keep a secret. It's just that his plan for the world couldn't be disclosed until Christ rose from the dead. His secret for sending Christ was to unite all people into one body with Christ as the head. So many people still do not understand God's plan today. Such a tragedy.

This wonderful verse that tells us that the Holy Spirit is God's guarantee to us that he will do what he has promised. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is our assurance of eternal life with all its blessings.

God's power is as work in us now, through the Holy Spirit, transfoming our lives, and is a taste of the total change we will experience in eternity. Think about that for awhile and you will end up with a "WOW! and a gasp!" (Tyndale)

"IT'S BILLIE THE BROWNIE FROM SCHUSTERS!"

What could be more exciting for a Junior age boy in the 1940's living in Milwaukee than to be drawn to the radio at 5:00 PM during the Christmas season? I was so naive, so ready to have my imagination tweaked, so anxious for the unknown and the adventure. Billy the Brownie would do it for me every year. And even after the full revelation about Santa Claus, it was fun watching my brother and sisters Joanne, Robert, and Judy listen intently with wide eyes and wonder.

Oh, how I used to anxiously await 5:00 pm and turn our radio dial to 640 and WTMJ. 4:45 was Terry and the Pirates so the dial was on WGN. Back then you didn't have AM and FM designations because FM was yet to be. Billy the Brownie from Schusters was the marketing tool of one of the four main department stores in Milwaukee. There was Schusters, Gimbles, The Boston Store, and Chapmans (East of the river on Wisconsin Avenue and attracted the upper crust).

This marketing tool for Schusters was masterful in getting families to one of the three stores to "see Santa" and shop while they were there. The program was 15:00 in length and aired each weekday at 5:00 pm for 24 years,1931 to 1955. The first program was Thanksgiving night to and the last program, with just the narrator, "Larry," was Christmas Day.

The cast was Santa Claus, his elf Billie the Brownie, Me-tik the Eskimo, Willie Wagtail (Billie's Dog), Fairy Queen, Bongo (Santa's Dog) and often Mrs. Clause via telephone hookup from the North Pole where she would give a full report on cookie baking and toy manufacturing complete with sound effects.  The creator and writer was Larry Teich and the sponsor was Schuster's Department Store -- a long time before Federated swallowed all the stores up. 

Billie the Brownie had the perfect "elf" voice. Mi-tek had a more base voice and limited vocabulary with Tonto type grunts and clipped English -- after all, he was a genuine Eskimo who was in charge of the reindeer. Willie Wagtail was Billie’s' dog, Bongo was Santa's dog, and "Fairy Queen" would show up every so often as the adventure story for the day merited.

The first Billie the Brownie voice was Esther Werner, nee Schmidt of West Bend who died in Menominee Falls the summer of 2001. The last voice of Billie was Carol Cotter. Santa, "the main man." would appear on the program at the close, reading letters from children. During the broadcasts we would be fed a strong diet of adventure, problem solving, mystery, Santa stuff and what was on special at Schusters. Sometimes, as I've mentioned, there would be a remote call from the North Pole, and we'd get a report from Mrs. Santa and some of the production elves so there would be a wide variety of program content.

The photo at the top of the page is the result of "Billie the Brownie" program. I'm not going to say who is on Santa's lap since I think you can guess. Isn't it interesting how easily customers were pleased? Look at that garish photo customer number in the middle of the picture. Can you believe that distracting interruption of photographic composition was accepted by the parents? This was not the year I asked for a Red Ryder air rifle. Notice the long hair on that kid! I had 48 wiener curls until I was six-years-old. I don't know...you ask my mother. Maybe it had something to do with Dad's advertising contract with Morton Salt.

I distinctly remember riding home in our 1937 Buick with side mounts and jump seats after seeing Santa and having this picture taken. I stood up and asked Mom and Dad why Santa Clause had a staple in his beard near his mouth! As usual, no definitive answer. I though it was dumb. I also remember telling them that he smelled like beer. Now, how would I have known how beer smelled since I lived in a teatotaler household? Must have been those weddings I tagged along when the reception was served by Plunkett's Famous Dinners in Milwaukee and Chicago.

My most memorable winter evening was when Mrs. Haack asked me to shovel her sidewalk and driveway. The Haacks lived a block east on Cedar Street and were the last house next to Jacobus Park. Mr. Haack was Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange and would come back to Wauwatosa on the weekend. Later he would become CEO of Lockheed Aircraft. Anyway, after school that day I rushed down to the Haacks and started shoveling. I wanted to be home before 5:00 so I wouldn't miss Billie the Brownie. Don't know how or why I was able to finish in an hour and a half but I did. The job included the front sidewalk, the entrance sidewalk and a long two-lane driveway. At 4:30 it started getting dark so I worked all the faster.

When Mrs. Haack paid me I looked down and saw a five-dollar bill in my hand! I was stunned and couldn't believe what she had given me. This was in 1946! FIVE DOLLARS? What would that be worth today? ...$30? ...$50? I thanked her but I don't think I did a very good job beause of my excitiment. I ran home as fast as I could so anxious to show my family and made it just in time for "It's Billie the Brownie from Schusters!"

Taking off my snow suit and galoshes I ran into the living room and where my brother and sisters were already stationed. I listened to Billie and Mi-tek while holding the treasure I had just been given; staring at it in disbelief. I was rich. Mrs. Haack would never know how happy she made this 12-year-old boy or what an incredible memory she gave him that is just as vivid 58 years later -- almost as vivid as it was when it happened.

In researching this beautiful memory, I found an incredible short story written by Phil Pluta, who lived "by Schusters plus two blocks." I don't know who Phil is but he perfectly described "how it was" and it's great fun to read. Don't miss his Milwaukee Dutch phrase in his title -- "BY SCHUSTERS..." Dutchers used "by" in place of to, near, over, at, and words like that. "I'm goin' down by Schusters" would be a normal way to tell someone where you were going. My favorite Milwaukee Dutch phrase is, "Ya, noo, over by tirdy-tird street where the streetcar turns the corner around." Next favorite is "Throw me down the stairs da broom so I can vacuum da floor.

Getting back to the excellent story about Milwaukee, Schusters was the touchstone of direction. When you gave directions, you used it's location as the center of your map and added to from that point. I have Phil Pluta's story elsewhere on Ramblins.

Click the link below to hear the last Billie the Brownie program from sometime in the early 1940's. They're loading up the sleigh on Chrismas.

Take your bible and turn to the following Scripture -- John 6:47-51
After a backup to chapter one of John for Christmas yesterday, we continue our walk through chapter six. Prayerfully read the verses two times, and then read the Advent Devotional that follows written by Dr. Thomas Q. Robbins, Pastor of the University Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas. Then spend a few moments in prayer using the suggestions Thomas Q. offers. Be sure to wait a few moments in silence to let your Creator God speak to you.

Think About It -- John 6:47-51
The bread that issues in eternal life is the very life of the Only Son sacrificed for the redemption of the whole world. That bread of life must be consumed, appropriated, received in the most intimate manner. It cannot simply be tasted or sampled, it must be eaten hungrily. To eat the flesh of Jesus Christ is then to “eat” life eternal in quality and quantity. It is offered in abundance and without ceasing. God provides bread from the grain of the fields to nourish our lives. Jesus encourages us to ask God for our daily bread. God also has provided the bread of heaven, Jesus Christ, to nourish and grow us in our newly created lives through the only begotten Son. Eat your fill and live forever! What a great metaphor to understand the necessity of having Jesus Christ as out sustinence for real life that is spiritual in nature.

Prayer:
Then Jesus took bread from the table, returned thanks, broke the bread and gave it to the world saying, “Take and eat, this is my body broken for you and for many. As often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.” Thanks be to God, through our Lord, Jesus

Dr. Thomas Q. Robbins, Senior Pastor
University Park Methodist, Dallas, Texas.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Author Unknown

And then we have to think about the depth of the Love God has for us and are reminded of the reality that God is the source of ALL love. Romans 8:36-40 says it this way:

Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way!

Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: Because we are hated we're like sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.

None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us.

  I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

This is what Christmas is all about!

A JEW SAY, "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"
Jeff Jacoby - Staff Writer, The Boston Globe December 20, 2004

My one-year-old hasn't built up much of a vocabulary yet -- "wow" and "hey" and "oh" are about the only words he's mastered. But they were all he needed the other night as we drove through Boston's Mission Hill section, gazing at the lavish Christmas displays lighting up so many front yards. On one block we saw Santas and reindeer and a giant polar bear ("Wow!"); on the next there was a beautiful nativity scene and dazzling lights made to look like fireworks ("Hey!"). Rooftops were trimmed with icicle lights, trees pulsed with color, and streets normally bland and unremarkable were lovely in their holiday glow.

    I enjoy Christmas decorations -- and Christmas music, and the upbeat Christmastime mood -- and I say that as a practicing Jew for whom Dec. 25 has no theological significance at all. I have never celebrated Christmas, but I like seeing my Christian neighbors celebrate it. I like living in a society that makes a big deal out of religious holidays. Far from feeling threatened when the sights and sounds of Christmas surround me each December, I find them reassuring. They reaffirm the importance of the Judeo-Christian culture that has made America so exceptional -- and such a safe and tolerant haven for a religious minority like mine.

      Unfortunately, it isn't only nativity scenes and Santas that make an appearance every Christmas. The holiday season also heralds the annual return of Scrooge and the Grinch. Or, as they're known in Bellevue, Wash., these days, Sidney and Jennifer Stock.

      The Stocks are atheists who want Bellevue's city council to remove the Christmas tree from the lobby of City Hall. Since "it is impossible for everybody's religious belief to be displayed and non-religious belief to be displayed," Sidney Stock told reporters last week, "no religious beliefs [should] be displayed."       Never mind that Christmas trees themselves have no religious significance. In Bellevue, as it happens, they don't even call it a Christmas tree. They call it a "giving tree," because its purpose is to stimulate gifts to the poor. In addition to tinsel and gold ribbon, the tree is hung with requests from needy families, and passersby are encouraged to help the less fortunate by making a donation. According to KOMO-TV in Seattle, the giving tree generates nearly $25,000 in contributions.    Most Americans, whatever their faith, would regard Bellevue's tree as a beautiful demonstration of true Christmas spirit. But to the Stocks, its presence on city property is a matter of "injustice and inequality." That is the voice of anti-religious fanaticism -- what Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the Orthodox Jewish founder of Toward Tradition, calls "secular fundamentalism."

   Every year these fundamentalists renew their assault on Christmas and its Christian meaning. Sometimes they claim the Constitution bars any expression of religion in government venues (it doesn't). Or they speak of "sensitivity" to those of other faiths. Or they couch their censorship in the language of "tolerance" and "diversity." Or they simply oppose any reference to Christmas at all. One way or another they end up demanding that America's vast Christian majority keep its religious feelings to itself. It's an outrageous demand, and it leads to outrageous results:

In Maplewood and South Orange, N.J., the school board has banned all Christmas carols, even instrumentals, from holiday concerts.

In Denver, the city's annual Parade of Lights included German folk dancers, a gay and lesbian Indian group, and belly dancers -- but a Christian-themed float was banned because it would have included a message reading "Merry Christmas."

In Southwest Florida, the rule against celebrating holidays is so rigid that one middle school principal told the Sarasota Herald Tribune: "You won't see any Christmas trees around here. We keep it generic."

In New York City, official school board policy authorizes displays of "Christmas trees, menorahs, and the [Muslim] star and crescent" -- which it describes as "secular holiday symbol decorations" -- but prohibits depictions of the nativity.

In Franklin, Mich., the annual Holly Day celebration has been renamed the Franklin Winter Festival. "Holly Day," the sponsors decided, sounded too Christmassy. "We wanted to try to make it more inclusive." 

But there is nothing inclusive about silencing the 90 percent of Americans who celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christians, after all, have freedom of religion, too -- and that freedom shelters my faith no less than it does theirs. Christmas is a blessing for all Americans. May yours be filled with joy.

©2004 Boston Globe

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JEFF JACOBY

Jeff Jacoby became an op-ed columnist for the Boston Globe in February 1994. Seeking a conservative voice to balance its famously liberal roster of commentators, the Globe hired him away from the Boston Herald, where he had been chief editorial writer since 1987.

The Boston Phoenix has dubbed his twice-weekly essays a "a must-read," describing Jacoby as "the region's preeminent spokesman for Conservative Nation." A native of Cleveland, Jacoby graduated with honors from George Washington University in 1979, and from Boston University Law School in 1983. He practiced law for a short time at the nation firm of Baker & Hostetler, but returned to Boston to become deputy manager of Ray Shamie's 1984 campaign for the U.S. Senate. In 1985-87, Jacoby was an assistant to Dr. John Silber, who at the time was president of Boston University.

In addition to his print work, Jacoby has been a political commentator for WBUR, Boston's National Public Radio affiliate. For several years he hosted "Talk of New England,'' a weekly television program, and has often appeared as a panelist on WCVB-TV's "Five on Five.''