Keeping Christ in Xmas

I've been getting some invitations on Facebook to a group Help Keep CHRIST in Christmas that apparently fears some sort of war against their religious views. The group description:

The purpose of this cause is to keep CHRIST in Christmas. Since so many people today are trying to ban Christ from everything, School, Courthouse and even Christmas. In a time when all things religious are being discouraged and swept away, it’s refreshing to know that the Order established the “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign to remind people that Christmas is above all a day God want us to remember the birth of His Son, our Savior.

I don't understand this fear. I don't think all the members of this group really understand it. I'm sure some do. I know some don't.

Where is this banning? No one is telling Christians what to do what to believe what to say or what to call the holiday. This is an old story. And it's more persistent than the hydra.

One group member sees evidence of this war everywhere. Regarding public schools she writes

Also, the agenda planners which all students are required to purchase contain a list of all the religious and school holidays for the year, and what religion the holidays are for. There is a long list of obscure holidays celebrated by various different minority religions of the world that most students in the school have never heard of, but no Christmas or Easter. They are listed as simply "school holidays". Not that a whole lot students actually take the time to read these lists, but I feel like my religion deserves its holiday's to be recognized just as much as the others. No more, no less.

Why do other holidays get more of a write-up on calendars? Because nobody knows what they are. There's value in giving information when you know people are ignorant. And you don't have to give them information that you know they already have. It's not anti-Christian to occasionally not talk about the religion.

The government allows so much space around Christmas; I can't imagine how much more it could give. Schools shut down. Government shuts down. Vacations are longer. It's a lot more observation than any other holiday gets. Christians who want to observe the holiday as a religious celebration have more room to do so than any other group. You know why you don't have to ask for Christmas off? Because you already have it off.

OK so some people are going to say Nononono this is just about focusing on the Reason for the Season! Urp. It's such a horrid slogan. But fine. Focus on it. If you really just want to promote the wonderful qualities of generosity patience and compassion I have absolutely nothing against that. Nothing. Neither does anyone else. You can relax.

All donations to the group go the the Durham Rescue Mission which looks like a decent organization.

I just can't get behind the fear. I think Goodness is on the rise.

McCain Backs Ups Slowly

Woman: I gotta ask you a question. I do not…um…believe in…I can't trust Obama.

McCain: I gotcha—

Woman: —I have read about him and he's not…he's not…he's a…um He's an Arab. He's not...

McCain: No ma'am. No ma'am.

Woman: No?

You see how easy that was? All McCain had to do was give a simple denial and she's right there able to keep up. McCain tells her it's not true and she does the quick u-turn away from ignorance.

Sure, she's probably still pretty confused on a whole bunch of facts. But she doesn't even try to hold on to this one simple claim. Now I'm guessing someone else she trusts will repeat the lie to her. And she may shriek out McCain's an Ay-rab too!

But McCain will rest easy knowing that the work he started will continue with or without him.

Push against it.

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Less Paranoid Than I Am?

In a statement by John Murtagh:

Barack Obama may have been a child when William Ayers was plotting attacks against U.S. targets - but I was one of those targets,

Imagine how different Murtagh's claim would sound if we just did little switching:

I may have been one of those targets when William Ayers was plotting attacks against the U.S. - but Barack Obama was a child.

Murtagh added: Barack Obama's friend tried to kill my family.

This recent use of the noun friend and the verb phrase palling around is sickening. It's the same type of thoughtless stoking that leads to pleas for ignorance like Carol Platt Liebau's.

It's disturbing to see how and why this story has kept its legs. It is born of a legacy in this country that I pray dies, sterile and cold. But this is the task, sanction by the Republicans, that John McCain has given to fear: Stop the voters from thinking. Make the hideous connections for them. If anyone does not blindly follow you to the pit of your mistrust, accuse them of supporting the cause of your fear. If anyone questions the extent of an influence, blame it on that very influence infecting their mind.

The appalled voice needs to re-emerge and demand once more

Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.… Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?… If there is a G-d in heaven it will do neither you nor your cause any good.