I think SI was pretty clear that his performance (this year and over his career) was only part of the reason they chose Favre; they spent a lot of time in the article talking about his charitable work and his interactions with teammates and fans.

Sounds like a better example of "sportsmanship" than most athletes out there.

There's also a lot of societal pressure to wait. My wife got some surprisingly nasty comments from close friends and family members when we found out about our first (we were both 22), and continues to get them from some people now that she stays home with our three kids (I won't even go into the questions regarding whether we're "done" having children).

Personally, I'm glad that we've had our kids "early" a) while we have the energy and health to look after them and b) so that we can enjoy our 40's and 50's in (relative) peace and quiet in our own pursuits (and so that we'll still be young enough to enjoy any grandkids!).

There is no scriptural basis for placing the celebration of Christ's birth in December (in fact, it probably occurred in the spring); the reasons, rather, are astronomical/theological.

December 25 is just about at the Winter Solstice, when the days start to get long again (i.e., the duration of daylight begins to increase). Since Christ is the "light of the world," this increase of light corresponds to the Christ's "light" coming into the world.

Similarly, Easter occurs at about the Spring Equinox each year, when the amount of daylight becomes greater than the amount of nighttime (i.e., the light overcomes the darkness, a parallel to the theological understanding of Christ's death and resurrection).

That's why the early Christians appropriated the celebrations held at those times, and used their symbolism to make theological statements about Christ.

"Sanders goes on to say that it would be difficult for Huckabee to enact the social conservative part of his agenda, but that the economically liberal aspects would sail through as the result of 'a Democratic Congress ... more than willing to let him live out his faith on the taxpayers' dime.'"

So... isn't he just admitting that the Democrats will keep control of both houses?

... but Mark can hardly be blamed for not mentioning shepherds or the Magi, since Mark doesn't include any infancy narrative at all! (Mark goes straight to John the Baptist and picks up the story from there.)

The Italian Embassy is also holding a big birthday bash for the pope which His Holiness will not be attending. These large dinners sans papal attendance are, as I understand it, standard operating procedure for a papal visit.

... they're creating a whole universe of movies, which is why Marvel their films are doing so much better than DC's.

Marvel has done a very good job of leveraging their properties into recent films (Spider-Man, Ghost Rider, X-Men, Blade, Fantastic Four). And while not all of them have been good (hello, Daredevil!), Marvel is setting up a shared universe that will allow a lot of crossover potential in the future. (Downey is slated for a cameo in the new Incredible Hulk movie, and there's lots of talk about a possible Avengers flick bringing together characters from Marvel's various movie projects.)

Contrast this with DC, whose movies haven't been managed as well. The fact that Brandon Routh and Christian Bale aren't slated to play Superman and Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie speaks volumes about the differences between Marvel and DC when it comes to their films.

... but where's The Goonies? Any Pixar film? West Side Story?

And really: The Muppets Take Manhatten has got to take president over Great Muppet Caper (although I'd trade them all for any season of The Muppet Show).