You just can't expect the Republicans to be honest!

CULTURE
Christmas Under Siege?

'Tis the season for the conservatives' "War on Christmas" conspiracy
theory to rear its head. The purported progressive plot to ban
Christmas from the public square is now a daily staple of conservative
talk radio and television, the focus of a popular new book (Fox News
anchor John Gibson's "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban
the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought"), and the
battle cry for some 1,600 lawyer-volunteers working with Rev. Jerry
Falwell's Liberty Counsel and the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund. In
the latest teapot tempest, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made
much ado over his insisting that the decorated spruce tree on Capitol
Hill be called a Christmas tree. But the truth is, there is no war on
Christmas. As Salon.com's Michelle Goldbert points out, "What there is,
rather, is a burgeoning myth of a war on Christmas, assembled out of
old reactionary tropes, urban legends, exaggerated anecdotes and
increasingly organized hostility to the American Civil Liberties
Union."

PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS: If Speaker Hastert really wants to
put Christ back into Christmas, we would join him in celebrating around
the Christmas tree if he, in turn, starts concerning himself with the
hardships felt by millions of poor and working-class Americans this
holiday season. Before the House went on Thanksgiving break, it passed
$50 billion in spending cuts that would squeeze recipients of Medicaid
funding, food stamps, and student loans. The House bill plans to cut
$12 billion in Medicaid access and benefits for the poor (read the
details about how the House budget harms millions). "The Medicaid
provisions would allow state governments to impose co-payments even on
the poorest beneficiaries for emergency room visits for non-emergency
health problems and for drug prescriptions not on a list of preferred
treatments." The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the House
bill "would cut food stamp benefits by about $45 a month for 225,000
people" and that 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free
meals at school. At the same time, conservatives are seeking to "extend
several of Mr. Bush's biggest tax cuts, including those on stock
dividends and capital gains" -- over half of the benefits from those
cuts benefit people earning over $1million per year. Hastert should
heed the true spirit of Christmas by caring for those who cannot care
for themselves. Jesus reminds us, in Luke 4:18-20, that by following
his example we can "bring good news to the poor."

CONSTRUCTING THE CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY: Conspiracies of a "war on
Christmas" are not at all new, though the scapegoats have changed some.
In the 1921 screed "The International Jew: The World's Foremost
Problem," automaker and notorious anti-Semite Henry Ford observed that
"most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in
any way that Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth." He noted
menacingly, "Now, all this begins with the designers of the cards."
Later, the Soviet Union and the United Nations were fingered for
plotting to undermine Christmas. A 1959 John Birch Society pamphlet
stated, "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken
the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out
of Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." The
writer breathlessly sounded the alarm: "Department stores throughout
the country are to utilize UN symbols and emblems as Christmas
decorations." As Salon.com's Michelle Goldberg writes, "To compare
today's 'war on Christmas' demagogues to Henry Ford is not to call them
anti-Semites." Yet they to promote a conspiracy theory "that repeatedly
crops up in America," in which the "scheme is always massive, reaching
up to the highest levels of power." In O'Reilly's words, "There's a
very secret plan...to diminish Christian philosophy in the U.S.A"; in
Gibson's telling, "I began to connect the dots and discerned the
outlines of the conspiracy."

CAMPAIGN TO SMEAR PROGRESSIVES AS ANTI-RELIGIOUS: In the latest
incarnation, the war on Christmas is used to falsely portray
progressives as anti-religious. According to O'Reilly, the
self-described "leading general of the anti-secular forces in this
country," it is just one arm of the "secular progressive agenda to get
Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square."
Comparing progressivism to Nazism and fascism, O'Reilly claimed, "In
every secular progressive country, they've wiped out religion ...
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, all of them."
Others on the right echo this line: Pat Buchanan writes, "What we are
witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity." Meanwhile, the
Alliance Defense Fund says it pursues legal action over perceived
attempts by "government officials to censor Christmas carols, eliminate
all references to Christmas, or silence those who celebrate Christ's
birth." The White House could be a potential target; no mention of
"Christmas" is made anywhere in the White House Christmas card.

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS: The truth is that "one can in fact offer Christmas
greetings without legal counsel." Christmas trees, legally considered
secular symbols, are permitted in public schools. Following the Supreme
Court decision in 1984's Lynch v. Donnelly, nativity scenes "are
allowed on public property, although if the government erects one, it
has to be part of a larger display that also includes other, secular
signs of the holiday season, or displays referring to other religions."
Additionally, the law protects students who wish to distribute
religious holiday cards and literature in school. As Salon.com points
out, "If the administration tries to stop them, the ACLU will step in
to defend the students' free-speech rights, as they did in 2003 when
teenagers in Massachusetts were suspended for passing out candy canes
with Christian messages." There is a strong progressive religious
movement that honors Christmas and holds fast to Christian values that
put the needs of the poor first.

wrote in message
ups.com...

Comparing progressivism to Nazism and fascism, O'Reilly claimed, "In
every secular progressive country, they've wiped out religion ...
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, all of them."

Not quite correct with this remark. In Germany,1930's to present day the
official "church" was the Lutheran Church with Roman Catholic right behind
in numbers. The German Army had it's Chaplains and on the belt buckle of
every German Soldier was the words "Gott Mut Uns" God is with us.

In Cuba, the Roman Catholic Church is very much in notice everywhere and the
Cubans attend church regularly, so does Fidel Castro!
Jim C.

On 2 Dec 2005 09:33:04 -0800, wrote:

You just can't expect the Republicans to be honest!

CULTURE
Christmas Under Siege?

'Tis the season for the conservatives' "War on Christmas" conspiracy
theory to rear its head. The purported progressive plot to ban
Christmas from the public square is now a daily staple of conservative
talk radio and television, the focus of a popular new book (Fox News
anchor John Gibson's "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban
the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought"), and the
battle cry for some 1,600 lawyer-volunteers working with Rev. Jerry
Falwell's Liberty Counsel and the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund. In
the latest teapot tempest, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made
much ado over his insisting that the decorated spruce tree on Capitol
Hill be called a Christmas tree. But the truth is, there is no war on
Christmas. As Salon.com's Michelle Goldbert points out, "What there is,
rather, is a burgeoning myth of a war on Christmas, assembled out of
old reactionary tropes, urban legends, exaggerated anecdotes and
increasingly organized hostility to the American Civil Liberties
Union."

PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS: If Speaker Hastert really wants to
put Christ back into Christmas, we would join him in celebrating around
the Christmas tree if he, in turn, starts concerning himself with the
hardships felt by millions of poor and working-class Americans this
holiday season. Before the House went on Thanksgiving break, it passed
$50 billion in spending cuts that would squeeze recipients of Medicaid
funding, food stamps, and student loans. The House bill plans to cut
$12 billion in Medicaid access and benefits for the poor (read the
details about how the House budget harms millions). "The Medicaid
provisions would allow state governments to impose co-payments even on
the poorest beneficiaries for emergency room visits for non-emergency
health problems and for drug prescriptions not on a list of preferred
treatments." The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the House
bill "would cut food stamp benefits by about $45 a month for 225,000
people" and that 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free
meals at school. At the same time, conservatives are seeking to "extend
several of Mr. Bush's biggest tax cuts, including those on stock
dividends and capital gains" -- over half of the benefits from those
cuts benefit people earning over $1million per year. Hastert should
heed the true spirit of Christmas by caring for those who cannot care
for themselves. Jesus reminds us, in Luke 4:18-20, that by following
his example we can "bring good news to the poor."

CONSTRUCTING THE CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY: Conspiracies of a "war on
Christmas" are not at all new, though the scapegoats have changed some.
In the 1921 screed "The International Jew: The World's Foremost
Problem," automaker and notorious anti-Semite Henry Ford observed that
"most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in
any way that Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth." He noted
menacingly, "Now, all this begins with the designers of the cards."
Later, the Soviet Union and the United Nations were fingered for
plotting to undermine Christmas. A 1959 John Birch Society pamphlet
stated, "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken
the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out
of Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." The
writer breathlessly sounded the alarm: "Department stores throughout
the country are to utilize UN symbols and emblems as Christmas
decorations." As Salon.com's Michelle Goldberg writes, "To compare
today's 'war on Christmas' demagogues to Henry Ford is not to call them
anti-Semites." Yet they to promote a conspiracy theory "that repeatedly
crops up in America," in which the "scheme is always massive, reaching
up to the highest levels of power." In O'Reilly's words, "There's a
very secret plan...to diminish Christian philosophy in the U.S.A"; in
Gibson's telling, "I began to connect the dots and discerned the
outlines of the conspiracy."

CAMPAIGN TO SMEAR PROGRESSIVES AS ANTI-RELIGIOUS: In the latest
incarnation, the war on Christmas is used to falsely portray
progressives as anti-religious. According to O'Reilly, the
self-described "leading general of the anti-secular forces in this
country," it is just one arm of the "secular progressive agenda to get
Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square."
Comparing progressivism to Nazism and fascism, O'Reilly claimed, "In
every secular progressive country, they've wiped out religion ...
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, all of them."
Others on the right echo this line: Pat Buchanan writes, "What we are
witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity." Meanwhile, the
Alliance Defense Fund says it pursues legal action over perceived
attempts by "government officials to censor Christmas carols, eliminate
all references to Christmas, or silence those who celebrate Christ's
birth." The White House could be a potential target; no mention of
"Christmas" is made anywhere in the White House Christmas card.

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS: The truth is that "one can in fact offer Christmas
greetings without legal counsel." Christmas trees, legally considered
secular symbols, are permitted in public schools. Following the Supreme
Court decision in 1984's Lynch v. Donnelly, nativity scenes "are
allowed on public property, although if the government erects one, it
has to be part of a larger display that also includes other, secular
signs of the holiday season, or displays referring to other religions."
Additionally, the law protects students who wish to distribute
religious holiday cards and literature in school. As Salon.com points
out, "If the administration tries to stop them, the ACLU will step in
to defend the students' free-speech rights, as they did in 2003 when
teenagers in Massachusetts were suspended for passing out candy canes
with Christian messages." There is a strong progressive religious
movement that honors Christmas and holds fast to Christian values that
put the needs of the poor first.

Very nicely written, Kevin. No, I don't agree with everything you've said, but
you did well in your saying of it.
--
John H

"It's not a *baby* kicking, beautiful bride, it's just a fetus!"
[A Self-obsessed Hypocrite]

JohnH,
The kid is really doing a great job of expressing himself. I am changing my
mind, he might have attended an Ivy League school like he said. They really
should have told him that U of Penn is an Ivy League school.

Kevin, keep up the good work.


"John H." wrote in message
...
On 2 Dec 2005 09:33:04 -0800, wrote:

You just can't expect the Republicans to be honest!

CULTURE
Christmas Under Siege?

'Tis the season for the conservatives' "War on Christmas" conspiracy
theory to rear its head. The purported progressive plot to ban
Christmas from the public square is now a daily staple of conservative
talk radio and television, the focus of a popular new book (Fox News
anchor John Gibson's "The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban
the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought"), and the
battle cry for some 1,600 lawyer-volunteers working with Rev. Jerry
Falwell's Liberty Counsel and the right-wing Alliance Defense Fund. In
the latest teapot tempest, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) made
much ado over his insisting that the decorated spruce tree on Capitol
Hill be called a Christmas tree. But the truth is, there is no war on
Christmas. As Salon.com's Michelle Goldbert points out, "What there is,
rather, is a burgeoning myth of a war on Christmas, assembled out of
old reactionary tropes, urban legends, exaggerated anecdotes and
increasingly organized hostility to the American Civil Liberties
Union."

PUTTING CHRIST BACK INTO CHRISTMAS: If Speaker Hastert really wants to
put Christ back into Christmas, we would join him in celebrating around
the Christmas tree if he, in turn, starts concerning himself with the
hardships felt by millions of poor and working-class Americans this
holiday season. Before the House went on Thanksgiving break, it passed
$50 billion in spending cuts that would squeeze recipients of Medicaid
funding, food stamps, and student loans. The House bill plans to cut
$12 billion in Medicaid access and benefits for the poor (read the
details about how the House budget harms millions). "The Medicaid
provisions would allow state governments to impose co-payments even on
the poorest beneficiaries for emergency room visits for non-emergency
health problems and for drug prescriptions not on a list of preferred
treatments." The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the House
bill "would cut food stamp benefits by about $45 a month for 225,000
people" and that 40,000 children would lose their eligibility for free
meals at school. At the same time, conservatives are seeking to "extend
several of Mr. Bush's biggest tax cuts, including those on stock
dividends and capital gains" -- over half of the benefits from those
cuts benefit people earning over $1million per year. Hastert should
heed the true spirit of Christmas by caring for those who cannot care
for themselves. Jesus reminds us, in Luke 4:18-20, that by following
his example we can "bring good news to the poor."

CONSTRUCTING THE CHRISTMAS CONSPIRACY: Conspiracies of a "war on
Christmas" are not at all new, though the scapegoats have changed some.
In the 1921 screed "The International Jew: The World's Foremost
Problem," automaker and notorious anti-Semite Henry Ford observed that
"most people had a hard time finding Christmas cards that indicated in
any way that Christmas commemorated Someone's Birth." He noted
menacingly, "Now, all this begins with the designers of the cards."
Later, the Soviet Union and the United Nations were fingered for
plotting to undermine Christmas. A 1959 John Birch Society pamphlet
stated, "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken
the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out
of Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." The
writer breathlessly sounded the alarm: "Department stores throughout
the country are to utilize UN symbols and emblems as Christmas
decorations." As Salon.com's Michelle Goldberg writes, "To compare
today's 'war on Christmas' demagogues to Henry Ford is not to call them
anti-Semites." Yet they to promote a conspiracy theory "that repeatedly
crops up in America," in which the "scheme is always massive, reaching
up to the highest levels of power." In O'Reilly's words, "There's a
very secret plan...to diminish Christian philosophy in the U.S.A"; in
Gibson's telling, "I began to connect the dots and discerned the
outlines of the conspiracy."

CAMPAIGN TO SMEAR PROGRESSIVES AS ANTI-RELIGIOUS: In the latest
incarnation, the war on Christmas is used to falsely portray
progressives as anti-religious. According to O'Reilly, the
self-described "leading general of the anti-secular forces in this
country," it is just one arm of the "secular progressive agenda to get
Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square."
Comparing progressivism to Nazism and fascism, O'Reilly claimed, "In
every secular progressive country, they've wiped out religion ...
Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, all of them."
Others on the right echo this line: Pat Buchanan writes, "What we are
witnessing here are hate crimes against Christianity." Meanwhile, the
Alliance Defense Fund says it pursues legal action over perceived
attempts by "government officials to censor Christmas carols, eliminate
all references to Christmas, or silence those who celebrate Christ's
birth." The White House could be a potential target; no mention of
"Christmas" is made anywhere in the White House Christmas card.

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS: The truth is that "one can in fact offer Christmas
greetings without legal counsel." Christmas trees, legally considered
secular symbols, are permitted in public schools. Following the Supreme
Court decision in 1984's Lynch v. Donnelly, nativity scenes "are
allowed on public property, although if the government erects one, it
has to be part of a larger display that also includes other, secular
signs of the holiday season, or displays referring to other religions."
Additionally, the law protects students who wish to distribute
religious holiday cards and literature in school. As Salon.com points
out, "If the administration tries to stop them, the ACLU will step in
to defend the students' free-speech rights, as they did in 2003 when
teenagers in Massachusetts were suspended for passing out candy canes
with Christian messages." There is a strong progressive religious
movement that honors Christmas and holds fast to Christian values that
put the needs of the poor first.

Very nicely written, Kevin. No, I don't agree with everything you've said,
but
you did well in your saying of it.
--
John H

"It's not a *baby* kicking, beautiful bride, it's just a fetus!"
[A Self-obsessed Hypocrite]