Attacking Christmas. . .hehehe

[kevinbgoode]

Well now, I just discovered an approach which sent a chill to one retailer and a grin to another. . .I emailed Macy's for caving into that nonsensical American "Family" Association threat about replacing holiday with more "Christmas"...and told them that I was so unsure about shopping there. You see, since I'm not really the proper kind of Christian (meaning, one which belongs to the AFA) and these people had made such demands about using the word, that I assumed the store was changing its advertising approach to include sales ONLY to christians. And, because I didn't think I could have access to those same sales prices because the store had opted to celebrate someone else's holiday, I figured I would either have to pay full price or shop elsewhere.

You see, I have no problem with Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays - in fact, only the mentally challenged seem to be in a tizzy over their usage this year. But I do have a problem with outside fringe groups dictating every week to a new victim.

Then I called Lands End, who is now under attack by the righteous Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights for not promoting "christmas" enough in its catalog. I told the very pleasant representative there that perhaps they should tell the CLRCR that it is not the policy of this retailer to offer special sales to any single religious belief. Then I suggested she pass along that they have just received a call from a customer who was afraid, since they weren't an "acceptable" christian, that forced definitions by a religious organization meant the retailer was being forced to have sales only for those of that faith.

The representative loved it. :-)

[The Witch]

1. love it. rec'd. we should all do this.

maybe bring it to ford as well. "Well, I was considering buying a ford, but I actually am in favor of equal marriage rights, so will it be marked up?"

[KharmaTrain]

2. Let's Play "Whose A Better Christian"

I've seen this happen among my fellow Jews...spin heads by demanding the criteria as to what constitutes being a "Good Christian"...make 'em say it aloud...even write it down. Then, see how close they or others come to those standards. A nice dog-chase-tail game.

This is excellent...it'd be fun to see one whacko sect of fundies go after another.

Cheers...

[mark11727]

8. Old Lenny Bruce skit --- "The Best Man in the Tribe"

The two (or more) sides keep upping the ante what they'll either do or give up until the other "side" acknowledges their superior "righteousness" --- until someone offers to go celibate then the other side gives up.

"You're the best man in the tribe...!"

[Ian David]

3. Why do you hate freedom?

:kick:

[NanceGreggs]

4. Excellent idea!

And well said! :applause:

[Debi]

5. That's really mean to equate the mentally challenged with the AFA

and the CLRCR.

Take it back.

x(

(I have a child with a mental disability and although I know you're joking it's still mean....he doesn't have a problem with the whole Christmas/Holiday thing as long as he gets his presents!)

[kevinbgoode]

12. Absolutely. . .:-)

And I certainly should have said "spiritually challenged." My bad. And thanks for pointing that out.

And I hope your son gets very good presents this year.

[Debi]

14. I said he had a mental disability....I didn't say he doesn't know how

to manipulate.

I have learned that Mental Retardation does not stop a person from having very good logic and reasoning skills. He makes hard to argue with statements that have a solid factual background. Damn it all - my kid would be a better President than ****!

:hi:

[PurpleChez]

20. I'd vote for him over *!!!

[Einstein99]

25. Thank you for making my day

:bounce:

[MidwestTransplant]

6. I JUST DON'T understand how these damn fools say there is a war

on Christmas. POSTIN MERY CHRISTMAS IN STORES DOES NOTHING TO CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, NOR DOES BUYING X-BOXES. It's hilarious. Those fools wither their commercialism are the onces at war with Christmas.

[panzerfaust]

54. Truly, it IS time to put Christ back in X-Box

Speaking of boxes.

Here in Texas (the land that time forgot) many people 'worship' (fall on their knees and pay a guy with a bouffant 'do to talk to god for them) in giant box churches. Every Sunday (the christian sabbath: though 2 out of 3 Abrahamic monotheistic religions think the sabbath is on a different day) the faithful cashcows cause huge traffic jams as they attend 2, 3 or even 4 worship services during the day.

But not so on this coming Sunday the 25th of December in the year of their lord 2005.

Nope Pard, cause on that Sunday the Big Box Churches are going to be CLOSED for the holiday, or scaling back to one round of begging.

I find this odd.

At least the original (and, in the view of many, the only True Christian) holy-mother-church won' be shuttered up on the little guy's birthday.

Not even in Texas.

[thefool_wa]

60. Wow

So if they are closing the church, where are their "Christians" to pray on Christmas day. This is so ironic as to be ludicrous. I guess if you are going to be a hypocrite, why not just go for it. Wait a minute, they did. And always do.

I like being a leftist, liberal, Catholic. My church is always open (ESPECIALLY on the Lords birthday), they don't MAKE me do anything (I have guilt for that), and I have NEVER been in an "I am holier than thou" argument with ANY other Catholics I have ever come across (even the ones who know I am a liberal and an adult convert).

These people need to get a clue.

[Kber]

7. Or how about dictating that only "approved" christian retailers

get business. The last time a group of brownshirts organized a boycott of jewish owned businesses, for example, it turned pretty damned ugly.

Luckily, my great grandfather saw the writing on the wall in 1936 and was able to get the hell out of dodge, so to speak. But is that really the company that FOF and the CLRCR wants to be in?

[Hubris Heaver]

9. Bravo

eom

[EFerrari]

32. Welcome to DU, Hubris Heaver.

:hi:

[mark11727]

10. I think it's sad, really...

Regardless how you may feel about about businesses, large and small (and I realize that to some here on DU, bigger is "badder"), it still seems terribly unfair that a small yet vocal and zealous group can bully and control a company not on its business practices, its treatment of its employees, the quality of its products, or even its prices --- but the innocent and innocuous content of its advertising.

Seriously, there's nothing tasteless or disrespectful about saying "Happy Holidays", it's wishing its customers, whatever holiday they observe, to have an enjoyable one, and I don't have a problem with that. I also don't think printing "Merry Christmas" is meant in any way to exclude customers of other faiths from shopping at their business ("sorry, Christians only!")

If we're going to "go after" anyone, it should be the religious bigots that started this in the first place --- bust their balls for a change, not some middle-level manager who's just trying to get through another fiscal year.

[kevinbgoode]

13. I agree. . .

I just thought it appropriate to give them some ammunition.

[Karenina]

36. The saddest thing

is that this silliness is getting so much play. :freak:

[Virginian]

11. Since when did the Religious Reich buy in on the merchandising gimmick.

Christmas is for going to church to celebrate the birth of Christ.
It has been corrupted by the end of year sales and gimmicks that pit parent against parent to provide the latest in games and toys for the youngsters in the household. How does this merchandising gimmick relate to the true meaning of Christmas and why are these fundies getting involved in marketing practices?

If these leaders were true Christians, they wouldn't be promoting such materialism.

The stores should stay with "Holidays" because they are promoting all holidays in December, not just the Christian holidays. Of course, they could say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and a Happy New Year, but that is such a mouthful -- just keep "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays".

Question: Are you supposed to give Kwanzaa presents?

Edited to add: Happy Advent and Happy Boxing Day.

[eppur_se_muova]

22. December 25th is Saturnalia, a Roman/pagan holiday

One day a year the Romans gave their slaves freedom to do what they wanted. Since many early Christians were Roman slaves, they made a custom of celebrating a Mass for Christ on that day, the only day they could congregate for worship. There is NO REASON WHATEVER to believe that the historical Jesus was born on the 25th (even ignoring calendric confusion). So 12/25 really is a PAGAN holiday. Christians are observing their holiday on the wrong day. This day is the day for worshipping SATURN.



on edit: Wish I had audio of John Lovitz (as the devil) doing his "Worship me!" schtick.

[B Calm]

15. I have a problem with outside fringe groups making their wedge issue

out to be something political!

[Fovea]

16. I got your attack on Christmas

right here.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=5535875&mesg_id=5535875

[TygrBright]

17. Lands End are very cool...

...even after being bought out by Sears, a lot of the same people still work there and they are old-fashioned Wisconsin progressives and independents in the LaFollette spirit. They're pretty laid-back and what they don't know about effective marketing (in the old "identify a need and fill it" sense, rather than the new-fangled "hype up a demand for what we got to sell" sense) and quality customer service could be painlessly engraved on the Pope's thumbnail.

They're not gonna get their knickers in a twist about a nutjob campaign, and they won't change one iota of their excellent marketing/sales plan (which was finalized months ago) to accommodate a bunch of religious fruitbats. But they'll be very polite to the fruitbats on the phone, because they're like that. They try to be polite and helpful to everybody.

If they'd gone public instead of sold out to Sears, I'd-a bought a big chunk of their stock, so I would.

philosophically,
Bright

[Straight Shooter]

24. Lands End is my favorite retailer.

Very polite, they have ironclad guarantees, their clothes are nice without being ingratiatingly trendy, and their products have value. I live in the boonies without a decent clothing store at reasonable prices, and Lands End makes all the difference when it comes to winter wear. The buyout by Sears really bothered me, but it didn't seem to change their persona, so it all worked out.

Also, every customer representative I've ever spoken to on the phone has been so nice, makes me want to send them a Seasons Greetings card. :)

[Scooter24]

18. The fundies should be happy with "Holidays"

After all, it came from the words "Holy" and "Day"

They are trying to use the season to advance an agenda. Sickening...

[lolly]

58. New Talking Point?

WHY HAVE THESE PEOPLE TAKEN THE "HOLY" OUT OF CHRISTMAS, DAMMIT!!!

Okay, caps off--but what's to stop people from attacking the impurity of the "Christmas" Season and demanding that the word "Christ" be taken off of all paraphernalia that includes any kind of pagan worship or secular material?

"Christmas" lights (probably owe popularity to pagan solstice rituals), "Christmas" trees (covered ad infinitem here and elsewhere), "Christmas" cards (invented, I believe, in Victorian era to sell cards?), "Christmas" presents (secular, materialistic tradition)--Why aren't these real Christians protesting the defilement of their "holy"/holiday with all this non-Christian stuff?

I say, bring the holy back to Christmas. Real Christian recognize the importance of Christmas by calling it a "holiday"--so all those people who don't say "holiday" oughta be pilloried.

Well, makes about as much sense as their "War"--maybe more.

[AuntiBush]

19. Priceless...

"only the mentally challenged seem to be in a tizzy over their usage this year..."

Good one! :thumbsup:

[wryter2000]

21. That does it

You're officially going to hell. :evilgrin:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[bluedeminredstate]

23. Brilliant!

I've had a shitty day in the never-ending home renovation saga that has become my life, but I think I could have a little fun with this...
:evilgrin:

[Einstein99]

26. At some point, Americans are going to get fed up

with this Religious Reich crap and tell them to shove it. So far, many Americans have tolerated and even supported the RR, but this may be the issue that will generate the inevitable backlash. For my part, it won't come soon enough.

By the way, one of the college students I teach wrote in his essay last week that the U.S. should throw out the Constitution and make the Bible the law of the land. Honest to God, that's what he said. Scary, ain't it?

[Virginian]

29. Either he didn't read it too closely or doesn't like football.

Isn't there a part in there that says not to touch the flesh of the swine? That would be a pigskin, a football.
I would like to hear an explanation to justify how some people think they can have a cafeteria plan for the laws in the old testament -- Pick the ones they like and ignore the others.
Doesn't the New Covenant throw out ALL the Old Testament's laws and start fresh? Isn't that why Christians go to church on Sunday instead of on Saturday, the Sabbath?

[Einstein99]

39. The reference to pigskins is in Deuteronomy

I quoted it to my students, and it went right over their heads. I also pointed out to them that the Bible not only condones slavery, it actually tells people how to treat their slaves. In one verse it says that it is OK to beat your slaves as long as you don't kill them. These comparisons held absolutely no relevance for them. In a class of 23 students, every single one told me that being gay is a sin, not a genetic disposition, and that gay marriage, therefore, was un-Christian. Yet, on their next essays, at least half a dozen students wrote that couples should live together before they get married. Though people claim to live their lives according to religious principles, the truth is that they use their religion selectively to support their prejudices.

[Virginian]

40. That made me look for my bible.

I had read it in Leviticus, but I didn't realize it was also in Deuteronomy.

I found the preceding verse to be interesting in Leviticus 11 also:

6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

It is a sin to touch bunny fur, too. So much for that lucky rabbit's foot.

[Einstein99]

44. Leviticus contains lots of bizarre ideas

Most modern-day Fundies stay away from it because they cannot justify the notion of Biblical infalibility with all the looney ideas in that book.

[jmowreader]

47. They stay away from most of it

The Rev. Fred Phelps runs his entire ministry based on one injunction from Leviticus.

OTOH, even Phelps says most of Leviticus is wack.

[panzerfaust]

55. In one sense, NOTHING was to change: But it is complicated

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Mat 5:17-18). Of course, we still seem to be waiting ...

Anyhow, most pig-eating Christers, at least those who worry about god's laws, feel that the cafeteria fare was dealt with here (in REALLY COOL fashion):

And he (Pete) became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,
And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:
Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.
And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.
This was done thrice (In case Pete missed it the first couple of times): and the vessel was received up again into heaven. (Act 10:10-16)

But Pete himself, even though god sounded a bit pissed, was not so sure. And if god wants to start sentences with 'And' who are we to criticize? In passing, note that this also clearly locates heaven as being somewhere in the sky close enough to let down vessels (? by a big rope) to earth. Course, we KNEW heaven is close 'cause of the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9)

Anyways, JC said:

... Hear, and understand: Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. (Mat 15:10-11)

This seems clear permission to eat what you want, but to watch what you say. Sadly, Our Truly Blessed and Great Christian Leaders seem to have overlooked this (and much else) in Holy Scripture.

Though they do remember to warn the rest of us about watching what we say, and do so only in the Spirit of Christ, I am sure.

Why (most) Christers go to church on Sol's (The Sun's, not the Son's) day is actually quite a complicated question. I can only briefly address it here.

You must remember that the only day of the week that has a 'name' in Scripture is “The Sabbath”. Every other day just had a number (starting with 1=Sunday). The seventh day of the week is commanded by god to be a day of rest and so was given that name (Hebrew šabbāt: to cease or to rest).

Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

God I feel your Love! Praise the Lord!

Sadly, it is not clear from this passage if it is up to the individual to drive to Wal-Mart and kill those breaking the sabbath, or if one should simply call 911 to report sabbath-breaking and rely upon the government to see that they are executed. With the strong swing back to God-Fearing-Belief in our society, either is probably appropriate. The important point is that if you be Christer, Jew, or Muslim as the foundation of your religion is the law of Abraham, you must see to it that sabbath-breakers are killed. But I digress.

Many Christers point to Revelations (a book considered by most scholars to be apocryphal) as the source of the Holy Day Switch:

Rev 1:10-11: I (John) was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last...

But this quite clearly does not say which day of the week is being referred to. Now Baal's Day (remember him?) did just happen to be the first day of the week, and “Baal” can be translated as “Lord”. As pleasing as this is to me, it is unlikely that John (well, god actually) would bring up this particular being at this place in his book.

It is important to remember that the first day of the week had long been sacred to the Sun and so was called “The Day of the Sun” in many middle eastern religions. The most cynical would say that Christers picked that day to help stamp out Baalism as well as to compete with the Jews.

There is no question that such reasoning is what would lead, many centuries after his possible birth, for The Church to pick 25 Dec to celebrate JC's birthday. At the time, they were losing out to Mithraism - worship of an ancient IndoIranian Sun-god - and other Pagan (God I LOVE that word) religions in part because The True Church had no mid-winter festival to compete with everyone else's Solstice Celebrations; having deliberately eschewed such in previous centuries to lim the difference betwixt Truth and Superstition.

The most charitable defense of the practice of taking the Sun's day as the Son's day is that the first day of the week can be identified in Scripture as the day of The Resurrection: Empty tomb (Mat 28:1; Mrk 16:2; Joh 20:1); Christ pop up (Mrk 16:9; Joh 20:19)

The earliest clear reference, of which I am aware, of Sunday as being the right day to herd into church and be shorn issues from the Council of Laodicea (364 CE ):

Canon 29: Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, that shall be shut out from Christ.

But apparently they do not need to be killed, just damned to Eternal Torment by being shut out from God's kid. So don't drive down to Wal-Mart and start shooting after all. Less, of course, you belong to one of the other People of the Book religions. Truly the Christian god is most merciful.

Oh, sorry, wrong god: that is Allah the Merciful.

It is all so confusing.

Season's Greetings ...

[Virginian]

59. I wish I could nominate your post! ! Entertaining and well worth reading !

Thank you so much for taking the time to write that. It really made my day.

[stevietheman]

27. Project Y?

With Project X continuing to be a great success at bringing down the... whoops... almost spilled the beans...

I do believe it is time to initiate Project Y.

Without giving away clues, does anyone here have experience with burning pine and making crank calls?

[Canuckistanian]

28. Now there's a heartwarming story

In a cynical kind of way, but that's just me, I guess.

[kestrel91316]

30. Forcing us to go back to only saying "Merry Christmas" and not

"Happy Holidays" is a DELIBERATE SLAP IN THE FACE to Jews, IMHO. Here everybody was, trying to be inclusive, and now the Uber-Christians want to go back to exclusion.

"It's OUR holiday season, and YOU can't celebrate it because you're one of those folks who is going to BURN IN HELL!!!"

Some days I am completely embarrassed to be a human being.

[kevinbgoode]

31. I am almost proud that I have chosen NOT to celebrate

this year. . .when the American Taliban starts dictating HOW I have to celebrate, I take great pleasure in joining the growing number of people who are just stopping the whole madness.

[EFerrari]

33. Kevin, that's a good one! Here's my plan: turn them in to each other.

Today I turned in BinReilly AND the Bushes for sporting "holiday" instead of "Christmas" to The Committee to Save Merry Christmas:

[email protected]

Let them do the heavy lifting!

:toast:

[radfringe]

34. argument with my dad

let me preface this by saying my dad is soooo conservative he makes limbaugh look liberal...

so I call my folks last night to make sure they received my travel itinerary for the holidays, and to let them know I'm shipping out the presents this weekend

my dad gets on the phone and starts talking to me about drawing/designing christmas cards with religious themes, and talks about how hard it is to find such cards... :wtf: ??? my dad is a self-proclaimed atheist and has never had any use for religion as long as I've been alive

so I ask him - what brought on this sudden concern over religion and christmas? he launched into how the lib-ruls have hijacked christmas with the happy holidays stuff

huh? well dad, HOLIDAYS mean HOLY DAYS, and the time frame does encompass more than just Christmas - it's also Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Christmas is also a time that asks each of us to look into our hearts and recognize our fellow human beings - it's not a McChristmas event where you celebrate our way or no way at all.

he ignore it - and goes into the "holiday tree" as opposed to a "christmas tree" bit. No response when I point out the decorating of a tree had it's origins in pagan religions to celebrate the winter solstice - so a more accurate term would be winter solstice tree

he sputters - but they (meaning lib-ruls) are ruining the holiday.

me: have you ever considered that the commercialization of the season by businesses have turned it into a pig-fest for consumerism. Stores have their christmas stuff on the shelves before halloween, stores are open on Christmas day all to make a buck - where's the spirituality in that? Where's keeping the day "holy" in that?

that pretty much ended the conversation.... the rest just degraded into blather

[tanyev]

37. Didn't he get his Holiday card from the White House?

Be sure and show it to him.

PDF at link.
http://www.au.org/pdf/HolidayCard05.pdf

[Virginian]

41. What is "India Bush"

The third page of the card mentions The Jackson Magnolia and Barney, Miss Beasley and India Bush.

It looks like a cat if it is moving from right to left and it looks like a rabbit if it is moving from left to right.

[tanyev]

43. Oh, gag.

India the cat has an official bio at http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids/india/. They even get in an anti-terrorism plug, although I can't see that it has anything to do with the rest of the bio.

The President has been busy lately. President Bush has talked about the economy, homeland security and America's response to terrorism. He also has been preparing for an important speech, the State of the Union message.

:puke:

[Bridget Burke]

38. The Metropolitan Museum Store offers a fine selection of religious cards..

If your Dad thinks it's too late to order online, he ought to visit the Met Store in his city. I'm sure he's visited before!

www.metmuseum.org/store/st_family_browser.asp/categoryID/{735FFEA8-49E2-4A46-B5D3-D7E14570FB04}/FromPage/catStationary

[DanCa]

35. Bravo - I love it when people go on offense against the fundies.

The only way we shut these self righteous ignorant punks up is to play offense.
My plan is to go to my familys right wing church and really confront the priest for whatever crap he says in the homily that pertains to politics and the anti choice crowd.

[catrose]

42. Thanks for the uplift and the great idea

The "war on Christmas" actually has me pretty depressed. As a Christian, I've always found it a challenge to have an appropriate religious observance, and the greetings bestowed by retail establishments have had nothing to do with that.

Nevermind that it's pretty silly to see the majority rolling and whining how mistreated they are, but I learned the Happy Season's Greetings Holidays schtick from my conservative Republican father, back in the days when a hand-signed, hand-addressed card to all your relatives, friends, and corporate acquaintances was de rigeur--and my assigned family task. I wanted to buy religious cards, and he said, No, not everybody celebrates Christmas; it's courteous, kind, and gracious (and corporately smart) to send general wishes instead. As an adult, I bought religious cards for those who would appreciate them and general ones for everybody else. Never had a problem finding religious ones either.

So Falafel Bill says my daddy was wrong? (That's my privilege: we disagreed on many things, but this one actually made sense to me.)

The inclusiveness of the season always gave me a warm feeling. Most north-of-the-equator religions found the need for a faith celebration to get them through the winter, and we can all wish each other goodness, even on a secular basis (New Years). The war on Christmas doesn't allow that.

The Rude One has also applied an antidote:
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2005/11/pre-emptive-war-against-christmas.html

Peace to all, and Happy Whatever You're Having,
Rose

[semaphore]

45. it's a pagan seasonal ritual!

Christmas is what the original pagans celebrated (and still celebrate) as Yule.

It's the celebration of the return of sunlight after the longest night of the year (the winter solstice). Pagans honored the birth of the sun god (interpreted by Christians as Christ, the "SUN" of God). When the Christians were trying to convert the pagans, they retained a lot of their seasonal rituals to make it more palatable to them.

Thus, I am launching a campaign to win back Yule for the pagans!
It's called .... "It was OUR idea First!" Heh heh. And every time someone says Merry Christmas, I'll reply, no, Happy Yule!

:) blessed bees!

[kevinbgoode]

46. I remember several years ago, I sent religiously correct cards. . .

well. . .except one had (if I remember correctly) a Black Mary and Joseph and a white baby Jesus in the manger....and the caption said: "What chile be dis?"

Of course, I usually opted for Chippendales models lying nekkid in the barn with a Santa hat over their..um....treasures.....

And that caption said: "A Lay in the Manger"

I would likely be arrested and thrown into prison if I sent cards like that today.

[mode13h_net]

48. why do religous organizations want corporate sponsorship?

I personally think christmas is about family, friends, and faith. Holiday season is about shopping and spending cash. As a christian I prefer stores and catalogs keeping "christmas" on the down low. I don't really need christmas "brought to you by macy's", or ebay brand christmas. Leave it the fuck alone ;)

[LeeB]

49. This is truly inspiring. What a great way to fight back!

Not more than a day or two after O'Reilly came out with his blather about this so-called "war on Christmas," I heard a radio spot featuring the velvety tones of a woman reassuring us that Samuel Alito could be trusted to give "Christmas" its correct place and respect . . . I forget the exact line . . . and it occurred to me that perhaps this Faux News/Bill O'Reilly "war" is all part of a new propaganda campaign centered around the January confirmation hearings.

Seems to me the technique of creating a "problem" where none existed, then following up with a scheme to fix it fits the bu$histas' past patterns . . . Whattaya think?

[kevinbgoode]

50. Absolutely. . .everything is cosmetic to them.

Just like the fascists, dummying down the masses to let them swallow anything, and then springing the trap when they are lured into the cage.

[B Calm]

52. Of course! All republican wedge issues are fabricated with an agenda.

[Voltaire99]

51. We're opting out of the Christmas gluttony this year...

Sick to death of consumerism, we're giving away some bags of Fair Trade coffee to friends and family.

That's it, LOL!

To hell with the corporations and the "we demand more Christmas in the catalogs" choir! Let them have their debased Chri$tma$--it's nothing to do with us, or the spirit of this holiday. :-)

[myrna minx]

56. My family is doing the same.

We are giving gifts of books, CD's and photographs that we already posses, instead of participating in the grind of american consumerism. The money that we would have paid for gifts is going to the local food shelf and to the victims of Katrina and earthquake in Pakistan.

[Voltaire99]

61. Well done! (nt)

[Sgent]

53. My family

all agreed to donate / buy gifts of $50 each to the Salvation Army angel tree or Toy's for Tots instead of giving each other gifts this year.

We don't need extra crap, and it sure makes shopping easier :).

[kevinbgoode]

57. I'm sending a few packages to troops

who don't receive much mail from anysoldier.com. And having dinner with a friend.