BY RODOLFO R. ROMAN
In Bal Harbour, the baby Jesus statue is back where it belongs.
And just to make sure the statue doesn't go missing again, Jesus, Mary and Joseph will be equipped with GPS tracking devices.
For six years, Dina Cellini has put up a Nativity display in Bal Harbour's Founders Circle. But earlier this month, someone took off with the statue of Jesus. Cincinnati resident Jeffrey Harris read a story about the crime online.
''I felt bad. How could someone steal a baby Jesus?'' said Harris, who celebrates Hanukkah, not Christmas.
''Even though I am Jewish, I like the Christmas spirit,'' said Harris, a civil attorney. So he offered to replace the figurine.
''He's a wonderful human being,'' Cellini said. ``It's so fitting that this negative act ended generously.''
But now, Cellini is taking no more chances. In perhaps the ultimate merger of old and new, she plans to add GPS tracking devices to the statues.
Cellini, using residents' contributions and her own money, bought the Italian-made, resin baby Jesus statue from Moroneys' Religious Art store in Fort Lauderdale. It was part of a larger stable scene that is lit up at night, next to a Christmas ...   more »

by Daniel Pipes
"If I were a Muslim I would let you know," Barack Obama has said, and I believe him. In fact, he is a practicing Christian, a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. He is not now a Muslim.
But was he ever a Muslim or seen by others as a Muslim? More precisely, might Muslims consider him a murtadd (apostate), that is, a Muslim who converted to another religion and, therefore, someone whose blood may be shed? 
The candidate for president of the United States has delivered two principal statements in reply. His campaign website carries a statement dated Nov. 12 with the headline, "Barack Obama Is Not and Has Never Been a Muslim," followed by: "Obama never prayed in a mosque. He has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian." Then, on Dec. 22, in the unlikely setting of the Smoky Row Coffee Shop in Oskaloosa, Iowa, as he munched on pumpkin pie and drank tea with four locals, Obama provided more detail took on this topic than before. When asked to explain his Muslim heritage, he replied:
My father was from Kenya, and a lot of ...   more »