RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Yet another political tard fest

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Pariah said:

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britneyspearsatemyshorts said:
For Our Democratic Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. And without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee. By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."

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Wal-Mart made clear Thursday that it's kicking off the "Christmas" season. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other retailers are giving the holiday's name top billing once more, replacing the presumably more politically correct and recently -ubiquitous "Happy Holidays."

The moves come after criticism last season by Christian groups, angry and worried that in losing the greeting, the stores were weakening the holiday's meaning.

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. was criticized early last season by the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association for using the phrase "Happy Holidays" in advertising.

Later ads offered up "Merry Christmas," and shoppers will see more of that this year, Target spokeswoman Brie Heath said.

Other retailers, including department store chains Macy's and Kohl's, have said they're adding more Merry Christmas in their in-store marketing and ad campaigns.

Kohl's is emphasizing Christmas this year in its TV, print and radio advertising, according to Vicki Shamion, a Kohl's spokeswoman.

Not every retailer is embracing the change, though.

"We are going to continue to use the term holiday because there are several holidays throughout that time period, and we certainly need to be respectful of all of them," said Dawn Bryant, a spokeswoman at Best Buy Co. Inc., whose advertising omits any reference to Christmas.

And at Neiman Marcus, which turns 100 next year, tradition reigns without customer complaint, said Nancy Sagar, public relations manager for the store in Cherry Creek.

"It's holiday. It's always been holiday. Our Christmas Book is our Christmas Book, but everything else is the holidays," she said.

After a series of reports by WorldNetDaily, Wal-Mart officials have satisfied demands by the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which had called for a national boycott after accusing the retail giant of discriminating against Christmas while promoting other seasonal holidays by name, such as Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said Wal-Mart has apologized, withdrawn "its insane statement" on the origins of Christmas and revised its website.

"This is a sweet victory for the Catholic League, Christians in general, and people of all faiths," Donohue said. "And it means that Wal-Mart can now enter the Christmas season without this cloud hanging over it."


Donohue said a customer service employee named Kirby who touched off the controversy with an e-mail about the origins of Christmas has been fired.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dan Fogleman released a statement last night saying, "We sincerely apologize to any person or organization that was offended by the inappropriate and inflammatory comments made by this former associate."

Donohue said Wal-Mart also has adjusted its website so that when a customer types "Christmas" in its search engine, he no longer gets, "We've brought you to our Holiday page based on your search." Now the customer is taken directly to a site named "Christmas."

Wal-Mart says it will not change its policy of encouraging employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," Donohue noted.

"This [authorized generic 'Happy Holidays" greeting by Wal-Mart employees] is dumb, but it was never part of the Catholic League's complaint," he said. "We only trigger boycotts when we've been grossly offended."

The controversy was sparked when a woman recently complained to Wal-Mart that the store was replacing its "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays."

The League says the woman received an e-mail response from a customer-service representative named Kirby, reading exactly as follows:




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Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than "christmas" which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with "christmas" red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world.



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Fogleman confirmed the original note was written by a Wal-Mart representative and explained yesterday:


"We at Wal-Mart believe this e-mail between a temporary associate and one of our valued customers was entirely inappropriate. Its contents in no way represent the policies, practices or views of our company. This associate, who was hired less than three weeks ago, is no longer employed by our company."




The Associated Press picked up on the story, more than 19 hours after first broken by WorldNetDaily.

Fogleman says the original e-mail from Kirby was taken out of context, and Wal-Mart's use of the "Happy Holidays" theme was to be inclusive of celebrations from Thanksgiving to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Eve in addition to Christmas.



On Wednesday, Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jolanda Stewart told WND her company was "absolutely not" banning Christmas as the Catholic League had been claiming.

To demonstrate an instance of discrimination, Donohue pointed out, and WND confirmed, that when using the company's online search engine, if the word "Hanukkah" was entered, 200 items for sale were returned.

The term "Kwanzaa" yielded 77.

But when "Christmas" was entered, the message returned said: "We've brought you to our 'Holiday' page based on your search."


WND's screen capture of Wal-Mart's website shows when 'Christmas' is entered in search engine, results are deferred to a 'Holiday' page.


However, the search also brought up a secondary link on which to click, which revealed 7,970 items that matched the "Christmas" term.

When WND entered the name "Jesus," 5,668 items were displayed.

The complaint was that only Christmas, and no other religion's holiday, brought up the special [generic] holiday page.

"We already serve a diverse customer base, and we're just trying to help them to celebrate their individual needs and wants," Stewart said.

"Stewart's remark is flatulent," Donohue said. "If Wal-Mart had a 'Holiday' section on its website that directed customers to its Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa sites, that would not be objectionable."

As WorldNetDaily has previously reported, the celebration of Christmas is a major cultural battleground in the U.S., dating back to colonial America when Christians in New England outlawed Christmas, saying it was based more on ancient pagan traditions than instruction from the Bible.

Today, followers of ancient paganism strive to remind the public about the heathen origins of traditions that many may never have questioned.

WAL-MART: "WE'RE NOT AFRAID TO SAY 'MERRY CHRISTMAS' ":
No. 1 retailer has decided to abandon its generic 'Happy Holidays' greeting in favor of 'Merry Christmas.'

A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film "The Nativity Story" might offend non-Christians.


New Line Cinema, which said it was dropped, had planned to play a loop of the new film on televisions at the event. The decision had both the studio and a prominent Christian group shaking their heads.

"The last time I checked, the first six letters of Christmas still spell out Christ," said Paul Braoudakis, spokesman for the Barrington, Ill.-based Willow Creek Association, a group of more than 11,000 churches of various denominations. "It's tantamount to celebrating Lincoln's birthday without talking about Abraham Lincoln."

He also said that there is a nativity scene in Daley Plaza — and that some vendors at the festival sell items related to the nativity.

The city does not want to appear to endorse one religion over another, said Cindy Gatziolis, a spokeswoman for the Mayor's Office of Special Events. She acknowledged there is a nativity scene, but also said there will be representations of other faiths, including a Jewish menorah, all put up by private groups. She stressed that the city did not order organizers to drop the studio as a sponsor.

Officials with the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, which has organized the event for several years, did not immediately return calls for comment. The festival started Thursday.

Sheila Kearns had a Christmas tree delivered to her home on Sunday. She says she thought she'd been pricked by pine needles when she reached into the tree while decorating it. But the next morning, she found a bat hanging upside down in her home.

It turns out that the Christmas tree farm Kearns bought from keeps bats around for pest control and that one unwittingly hitched a ride to her home.

Animal control officials picked up the bat, which tested negative for rabies.

Kearns got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, but says she's not fazed. She says she'll keep buying her trees from the same farm

"A Christmas controversy is brewing in Hillsboro after a church was kicked out of the upcoming community-wide celebration.

It all has to do with a pastor's plan to read "The Night Before Christmas" along with a Bible passage. "It basically is the account of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, so we wanted to read that and also read 'The Night Before Christmas,'" said the Rev. Greg Lull of the Valley Bible Chapel.

The reading was planned as part of a tea party at Valley Bible Chapel following Saturday's town tree lighting.

However, organizers of the town's Old Fashioned Christmas have now canceled the church event.

The Chamber of Commerce sponsors the celebration and said it is a violation of the group's bylaws to host a religious event.

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the G-man said:
Woman Finds Bat in Christmas Tree

Sheila Kearns had a Christmas tree delivered to her home on Sunday. She says she thought she'd been pricked by pine needles when she reached into the tree while decorating it. But the next morning, she found a bat hanging upside down in her home.

It turns out that the Christmas tree farm Kearns bought from keeps bats around for pest control and that one unwittingly hitched a ride to her home.

Animal control officials picked up the bat, which tested negative for rabies.

Kearns got a tetanus shot and some antibiotics, but says she's not fazed. She says she'll keep buying her trees from the same farm

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That would be a trip! Buy a Christmas tree and find a bat in it.. and be bitten by it, too!

The refuse collectors in Kingston upon Hull have worn the traditional red hats for years.

Now city council scrooges say “it does not create a professional impression of the council”.

But one angry binman told The Sun: “It doesn’t look like anyone can escape the PC brigade this year.

“Our Santa hats have always brought a bit of festive cheer to local households. We loved seeing the faces of excited kids watching us from the window and laughing at our hats.

“It’s been a Christmas tradition for years — but not any more.”

A spokesman for the East Yorkshire city said: “Employees can wear Christmas hats in their own time. Wearing them during work time does not create a professional impression.

“Further, there can be health and safety implications should hats get in the way of dangerous machinery operation.”

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the G-man said:
A spokesman for the East Yorkshire city said: “Employees can wear Christmas hats in their own time. Wearing them during work time does not create a professional impression.

“Further, there can be health and safety implications should hats get in the way of dangerous machinery operation.”

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Uschi said:
Like ANYONE expects staunch professionalism from GARBAGEMEN. They don't get paid enough for that kind of shit.

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the G-man said:
Yeah, but does a Santa hat really detract from the "espirit d'corps" of the garbagemen? Its not exactly the same thing as rifling through the trash, thumbing through porn, and sniffing discarded booze bottles, is it?

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And, again, I recognize that the employer had the right to make the call, but was it the right call?

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Next question: suppose, instead of a Santa hat, the men were Jews who wanted to wear Yamulkes. Would the government still have the right to ban their headgear?

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Beardguy57 said:
I belong to a non - profit club. I'm a board member there. We just had our monthly social earlier this evening. We donate to charity often. I was told we don't go around wishing others Merry Christmas due to our non - profit status, as we could get into trouble if we do. So we say " Happy Holidays!" instead.

Things are getting way too pc, IMO!

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Uschi said:
The way I tend to see it, if someone says "Merry Christmas!" it's just them spreading their enjoyment of the season - if you don't do X-mas or if you DO something else, you can reply in kind.
"Merry Christmas!"
"Thank you! Happy Channukah!"
the end.

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r3x29yz4a said:

All these "war on christmas" people are wrong to think its some secular thing, because Christmas itself is secular and about selling shit, so non-religious people don't really give a shit about it too much. Stores look to the largest profit base they can get. So they want Jews buying for hanukah (i can never spell it right) and for Muslims buying for Ramadan and for non-religious people buying for the commercial Christmas holiday.
Saying happy holidays is safe and risk-free.

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Wonder Boy said:

Y'know, what I find amazing about objections to Christmas, and any state or public mention of the word Christmas, is that even the most overtly religious symbols of Christmas celebration are largely just seasonal decorations at this point.

Even among Christians, I think it's perceived as a largely commercial and secular event at this point.



For decades here in South Florida, the Deerfield Beach Fire Department displayed a nativity scene on the front lawn of their firehouse at Hillsboro Blvd and Federal Highway. Despite that a nativity scene is a portrayal of the birth of Jesus, it really has no evangelical or religious purpose. It is arguably just part of the commercial trappings of the holiday.

There has been argument within the Christian community that exchanging gifts has marginalized the true meaning of Christmas, and completely eclipsed the message of the birth of a Messiah whose birth was prophecied in verses throughout Old Testament scripture, and fulfilled in the events of Jesus' birth, life, death and ressurection.

The Jehovah Witness church doesn't celebrate Christmas (or birthdays or other holidays for that matter), and I've met others who identify themselves as Christians who either individually as a family, or as a church community, do not celebrate Christmas with gifts or decoration, or other non-religious celebration.



I actually think Political Correctness and ACLU attacks on Christmas songs and decorations and so forth have had the opposite effect, of making Christians more vocal, fighting for the right to publicly practice their Christianity.
If atheists and other anti-Christian groups just shut their holes and allowed the subtle secularization/commercialization of Christmas to occur, they would be more satisfied with the result, as compared to unwittingly stirring up a revival by openly urinating on Christian tradition.


Jim Jackson [a self-proclaimed atheist] has voiced the sentiment that he enjoys the Christmas trappings, even though he is not a Christian.
I would venture to guess that G-man and many other atheists or agnostics feel similarly.
In my college years when I was agnostic, and even a bit hostile at times toward born-again Christians, I also still enjoyed celebrating Christmas every year.

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r3x29yz4a said:
we're not talking crosses here [or] religious items, [which] a santa hat isn't. in fact santa as we know him today with that image was from the coca cola company. can the boss tell them not to wear coca-cola t-shirts?

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rex said:
Same goes for every other window licker that lets other peoples actions affect their happiness around Christmas. It really doesn't matter. Stop victimizing yourself and realize that this kind of shit really doesn't matter.

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r3x29yz4a said:
we're not talking crosses here [or] religious items, [which] a santa hat isn't. in fact santa as we know him today with that image was from the coca cola company. can the boss tell them not to wear coca-cola t-shirts?

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This legend is not true. Although some versions of the Santa Claus figure still had him attired in various colors of outfits past the beginning of the 20th century, the jolly, ruddy, sack-carrying Santa with a red suit and flowing white whiskers had become the standard image of Santa Claus by the 1920s, several years before Sundlom drew his first Santa illustration for Coca-Cola. As The New York Times reported on 27 November 1927:

A standardized Santa Claus appears to New York children. Height, weight, stature are almost exactly standardized, as are the red garments, the hood and the white whiskers. The pack full of toys, ruddy cheeks and nose, bushy eyebrows and a jolly, paunchy effect are also inevitable parts of the requisite make-up.

It's simply mind-boggling that at the beginning the 21st century, historians are still egregiously perpetuating inaccurate information like the following:

So complete was the colonization of Christmas that Coke's Santa had elbowed aside all comers by the 1940s. He was the Santa of the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street just as he is the Santa of the recent film The Santa Clause. He is the Santa on Hallmark cards, he is the Santa riding the Norelco shaver each Christmas season, he is the department-store Santa, and he is even the Salvation Army Santa!

As we just pointed out above, the modern Santa had "elbowed aside all comers" long before the 1940s, and well before Coca-Cola co-opted him as their wintertime advertising symbol. And we're at a loss to understand how anyone could have recognized the Santa of Miracle on 34th Street, a BLACK-AND-WHITE film, as the red-and-white Coca-Cola Santa.

All this isn't to say that Coca-Cola didn't have anything to do with cementing that image of Santa Claus in the public consciousness. The Santa image may have been standardized before Coca-Cola adopted it for their advertisements, but Coca-Cola had a great deal to do with establishing Santa Claus as a ubiquitous Christmas figure in America at a time when the holiday was still making the transition from a religious observance to a largely secular and highly commercial celebration. In an era before color television (or commercial television of any kind), color films, and the widespread use of color in newspapers, it was Coca-Cola's magazine advertisements, billboards, and point-of-sale store displays that exposed nearly everyone in America to the modern Santa Claus image. Coca-Cola certainly helped make Santa Claus one of the most popular men in America, but they didn't invent him.

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