Enough Already!      
     
   Before we dive into today's earthshaking, showstopping blog, we want to make this clear: We are not a BASEMENT BLOGGER...as mockers charge. We don't even have a basement in our home. 

   Let's get into the spirit of Christmas. Peace on earth, goodwill toward bloggers.

Flying Slow   
   Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. 

                          It's a zeppelin!    

   The Hindenburg disaster may not be the end of airship travel after all. Scientists are looking at zeppelins again. Airships can be more fuel efficient than cargo ships and airplanes. 

   The Goodyear Blimp uses helium, nonflammable, but costly and rare. Abundant hydrogen may be the answer second time around as tech advances have reduced the explosive danger. 

   An airship five times the length of the Empire State Building riding the jet stream could circle the globe in 14 days - faster than any oceangoing ship.

Taxing Religion 
   Is this a winner? Tax faith-based organizations to feed the poor, give healthcare to all, fund social services, resettle refugees and provide housing, education and other goodies. What could go wrong?

   Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson writes that ending tax-exempt status would crush the charitable sector, cripple social services and harm the very causes big government claims to help. He noted that former Chief Justice Warren Burger said taxing churches would entangle religion and government. The tax code "simply abstains from demanding that the church support the state," the justice said.  

      Jimmy