Saturday, December 17, 2005
So a friend posted his thoughts about happy holidays/seasons greetings vs. merry Christmas on his own blog. I replied, and I feel compelled to put my reply here, as well. Suffer my wrath now.
THANK GOD FOD BILL O'REILLY. WITHOUT HIM THIS ENTIRE WORLD WOULD COLLAPSE; HOW DID WE FUNCTION PRE-FACTOR?!?!?!?!?!
Yeah, did you hear? He says he personally is the ONLY reason the ACLU and George Soros won't destroy our lives. Nutcase man with a whackjob show, but we already knew that. My own thoughts:
1) There is no war on Christmas. If a billionare and a world famous organization like the ACLU wanted an all out war, they'd have it. This is O'Reilly and his crowd shamelessly plugging for ratings. Honestly, claiming all Christians are offended by the pleasentries of Happy Holidays? This crowd is a bunch of shameless money-grubbing idiots.
2) The few who really do go out of their way to avoid "Merry Christmas" are idiots. Taking nativity scenes and school-approved wishes or whatnot away, I can understand and even agree with, but the songs should stay in the pageant - music has an artsy tradition as much as it does religious. But the random people on the street afraid of offending someone? If they're offended, let them deal with it, that's their problem. I celebrate Christmas, so I wish you a merry Christmas. If you celebrate Christmas, then don't wish me a Happy Holidays, wish me a merry Christmas! If you celebrate Chaunaka, don't wish me a HappyHolidays, wish me a Happy Chaunaka! It's not a holiday menorah or a holiday fast, it's a Chaunaka menorah and a Ramadaan fast, so it's not a holiday tree, either! An e-mail of mine on the subject was read on CNN. The way to celebrate diversity (on the personal level, not necessarily the school level) is to put all these religions on an equal independent footing and admire them all, not throw them in one big pot and mix 'em up so you can't tell the difference.
The fringe extremes on both sides of this debate that like to make themselves out to be mainstream are all IDIOTS. Hoo-boy, you got me started.
AND ANOTHER THING. I have INTENTIONALLY left out Kwanzaa from my rant; it is NOT equal to Christmas! So stop pretending, all ye phony pretenders! It's a CULTURAL thing, and Christmas/Chaunaka/Ramadaan are all SPIRITUAL AND RELIGIOUS THINGS!!!! Kwanzaa is cool, but it's an arbitrarily invented man-made event like Labor Day or the fourth of July, NOT like a holy day!
ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! WHY ALL THE INSANITY?!?!?!?!?
So. With that, I wish you a merry Christmas.
Posted by Nathan S. Empsall,
3:16 PM
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Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Bush, on why it's good to be in Iraq:
We were not in Iraq in 1993 when the terrorists tried to blow up the World Trade Center in New York. We were not in Iraq in 1998 when the terrorists bombed our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. We were not in Iraq in 2000 when the terrorists killed 17 American sailors aboard the USS Cole. And there wasn't a single American soldier in Iraq on September 11, 2001, when the terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 people in the worst attack on our home since Pearl Harbor. (Bush 12-14-05)
You know, for once Bush has said something about Iraq that I can really relate to. I have a certain chair which I must be sitting in order for my favorite hockey team to win. If Bush feels he has found such a chair in Iraq, which he has to be sitting in in order for America to be winning the war on terror, then more power to him. As long as his case for remaining in Iraq is based on a foundation of verified superstition, then I feel I can sleep peacefully at night with him as my leader.
Posted by Justin Sarma,
8:22 PM
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Monday, December 12, 2005 The M.O. of a New Republic editor Anyone who had the faintest idea about the contrarian nature of a New Republic story would never write these words:
Editor and Publisher reports that this Sunday’s Times magazine will feature an article by [New Republic staffer] Michael Crowley which, basically, lies. ‘Lies’ not in the sense of fabrication, but in the sense that Crowley looks at a situation—in this case the blogosphere and its political influence—observes what is plain to see and agreed-upon by both sides, and then reports precisely the opposite in order to paint his political enemies as the bad guys.
Gimme a break. TNR loves to run stories countering the conventional wisdom.A few years ago TNR finally did the ultimate contrarian cover story, poking fun at itself as well: "In Defense of Conventional Wisdom". Whatever the merits of the story in this particular case (with a TNR staffer writing in another publication), simply disagreeing with conventional wisdom is hardly a 'lie'. That claim is silly.
