christmastime is here
2004-12-21

I am beginning to reel in the Christmas presents. Here is what I have gotten so far:

- cinnamon tea
- an actual store-bought cd
- one burned cd of love hits
- one copy of "Stitch n Bitch Nation"
- one iPod gift card
- various items of stationery
- one calendar
- New York walking tour kit
- work chocolate
- other chocolate
- a tote bag (as I am "out of the office so much")

Hm, it's not my fault I know people in Strange and Exotic Places. Such as Japan or... Chicago. Well, the midwest is Exotic to me.

Speaking of Christmas, my old nemesis is back, this time with my favorite Christmas-time fight. Why, oh why are people still bitching and moaning about Somebody Ruining Christmas Because You Can't Put a Creche in Front of the Courthouse.

Listen up, people: the Constitution says that there is a separation between church and state. This means that it is not only tacky, but actually against the law to stick large religious symbols on state property.

And don't try that "Constitution doesn't give us freedom [i]from[/i] religion" bullshit on me. Unless you are willing to put up a symbol for every possible holiday, then you're implying that the government tacitly supports one particular religion.

What pisses me off so much about this is not even the religious display itself, it's that the displays are used as bait. The people who put these things up know perfectly well that by right, they can be told to take the damn things down. Yet if they're told to do so, it's suddenly "Waaah, my religion is being stifled!" and the order is used as an example of the Godless Government Communists who want to Ban Religion.

OK, people. Let's get this straight: You are allowed to go to church to worship (and I'm not even going to try to pretend that anyone other than a Christian makes a fuss over the removal of a creche, no matter what kind of "Judeo-" they tag on the front to make it look inclusive. So church it is). You are allowed to put up whatever display you want on private property, which is basically anywhere outside of courthouses, the post office, the mayor's/governor's offices, and the DMV. You are allowed to complain about your plastic baby Jesus being kicked out of the courthouse courtyard without fear of reprisal. You have a damn lot of rights already, and I don't want to hear you complaining that anti-religious zealots are ruining America because you can't put a tree up in ONE SPECIFIC PLACE.

This is obviously not the reasoning of an oppressed minority, or even an oppressed majority. It's the whining of people who are upset that they can't achieve total dominance. It's the same reasoning that's behind deliberately saying "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." There's no good reason to deliberately pick the former over the latter when you are talking to a stranger, as you don't know whether that person celebrates Christmas or not. (Peggy Noonan is an especially egregrious example - she makes a big fuss about living in New York, where there is a pretty good chance that said stranger doesn't celebrate Christmas. If you were living in a town of 300 people, I could understand, but she has absolutely no excuse.) The only reason why you would make sure to say "Merry Christmas" is to emphasize that your particular religion is more important than any other religion that might be having a holiday in or around the same time. In fact, it's so much more important that you don't even have to acknowledge that other people have holidays at all!

Hooray for the Christmas (not "Xmas") spirit, people.

Oh grand, I just got done with my ANTI RELIGIOUS ZEALOT rant and God, obviously pissed off at me, dropped this present in my lap!

Slate was never a masterwork of journalism but the Washington Post is a black hole of suck that nothing could escape from. And how exactly would the Post make Slate more accessible? Typing tips on how to spell out "slate" in your address bar? We're not talking about distribution deals here, people. (Yes, I know the article was trying to say that more people would read Slate as the audience would come over from the Post, but it's still such a stupid thing to say and demonstrates such total ignorance that I had to highlight it.)