Now that just looks lovely!

I wrote last year on my views of Christmas and the “war” thereon, a conflict that’s largely artificial and made-up by Fox News and the like.

The “War” on Christmas hysteria has largely died down this year, as reported by Slate. Sanity always beats Hannity in the long run. But some Christians still feel like they’re a persecuted majority, so the “War” on Christmas is being at least slightly revived in some quarters.

Condisder this article from CNN.com where they talk about efforts by Congress to shore up Christmas against secular forces that try to errode this greatest of holidays, etc. The article also talks about other people’s efforts to fight on behalf of Christmas, like in this quote:

Mathew Staver, law school dean at Liberty University, a Virginia college founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, said, however, that some schools and businesses are going too far to “censor” Christmas because they don’t know the laws.

Staver founded the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation group dedicated to advancing religious freedom and conservative values. The counsel provides free legal advice and defense for government entities to ensure religious viewpoints on Christmas are not censored.

One example Staver cited began in Oregon, where an elementary school principal replaced Christmas trees with snowmen and banned all religious symbols, saying Santa Claus fell into the category.

Liberty Counsel sent the principal a letter telling her the law doesn’t require her to “secularize” the holiday. The counsel also pointed out that by banning religious symbols for a holiday with secular components, she risked violating the Constitution by not being “viewpoint neutral,” Staver said.

Parents were upset as well. The principal eventually changed course and restored the tree and jolly St. Nick.

Well, he’s right, really. Public schools should remain neutral on religion (though what do you want to bet this guy favors prayer in schools?). But removing all elements of things related to Christmas and replacing them with simple winter decorations is being neutral towards religion.

Santa Claus, a further sign of the creeping secularization of Christmas!

Also, I laugh at anyone who thinks that removing Santa Claus is part of some “War” on Christmas. Santa is not a Christian symbol, after all. He’s surely a major part of the secularization of the holiday, yeah?

I’ve mentioned before, but it’s worth saying again: this is a made-up controversy. Christians still comprise more than 80% of America’s population. They are hardly a persecuted majority, and I don’t think we’re in any danger of, as a people, forgetting what Christmas is about. As for those who fear that Christmas will someday be “banned” in this country, allow me to point out that the only times I’m aware of that Christmas was banned in a majority Christian country was when Christian fundamentalists banned it in the 1640’s and when, again, Christian fundamentalists banned its celebration in Boston in the latter part of the 17th century.

I’m pleased that at this point most people are ignoring the “War” on Christmas and recognizing it for the stupid, media-based, extreme right-wing hype that it is. All the far right does with this one is pander to their base and continue to distance the Republican party farther and farther away from the centrists and moderates in this country, and I can’t say as though I’m losing any sleep over that.

Anyhow, happy holidays, all holidays (except Kwanzaa, that crappy, stupid, politically-based, made-up holiday), to my readers!

I always thought this a mildly dull flag, but I'll change my mind for now!

So the DC city council, by a vote of 11-2, which is astonishing even to me, has decided to allow gay marriage in the District!

This is nothing but a good thing, especially following recent setbacks in Maine and New York (though we also had a small triumph in Washington which is likely to result in a court ruling making gay marriage legal in that state as well). It’s also going to create a fascinating “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” thing with Congress.

See, legally DC is Congress’ bitch. Any laws they pass, Congress can override. This includes this fine little law allowing gay marriage.

So the choice our Democratic-controlled Congress faces is this: do they allow this law to go through and then have to explain to people in their home states why it’s ok for gays to get married in DC but not in whatever state they’re from (assuming they aren’t from one of the five that allow gay marriage), or do they override it and have to explain to people back home why they interfered with local politics and forced a discriminatory move on people who don’t want it?

Either way, expect this to add more fuel to the fight to make DC a state, especially if Congress blocks the law.

It’ll be interesting to see where this goes. It’s nice that, for a chance, people in the District will actually have more rights than those elsewhere in the country.

I wrote recently about the vote in Catalonia that might be a stepping stone to them becoming their own country. One of my friends, upon hearing about this, basically said, “Oh, great. Another country. Just what Europe needs.” He then went on to talk about how they’re going to run out of airport codes, because that’s the sort of thing that interests him.

He does have a point, this friend of mine. There’s a great many countries in Europe and the prospect for many more (off the top of my head: Kaliningrad, a Basque country, some sort of Rom homeland, and a few others carved out of former Soviet states, plus others). But unlike my friend I don’t see this as a bad thing.

See, even if Catalonia breaks away and becomes its own country, that doesn’t really make a difference in the long run. Why? Well, they’ll likely join the EU as soon as possible, and that’s slowly morphing into the United States of Europe. Basically they’ll break away from one government but also become a part of a larger government (that while a part of Spain, they’re already involved with).

In American terms this would be like Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon and the Idaho panhandle breaking off to form the state of Lincoln (this has been discussed at many points over the years). Sure, they’d become their own state, but they’d still be part of the USA, so who cares?

So let the various European groups have their own countries. In the end, they’ll all likely be part of the EU, so what does it matter?

The good folks of Catalonia are having a vote to determine their future. They’re currently a part of Spain, but there’s a large (and possibly growing), number of them who would like to have their own country.

I fully support them in this goal. If there are legitimate elections and the people decide they want their own country, then absolutely they should have that. And yes, I’ll apply that standard to any group of people out there, including, for example, places here in the USA who make noises about secession (though I don’t think a majority of people in any state would be willing to vote in favor of that).

So good luck to the people of Catalonia! May the majority’s will be done!

A spokesman for Al Qaeda has offered a nice little apology for all the innocent people they’ve killed over the years. Well, not all of them. Only the Muslims.

From the above-linked article:

“We also express the same in regard to the unintended Muslim victims of the mujahedeen’s operations against the crusaders and their allies and puppets, and to the countless faceless and nameless Muslim victims of the murderous crusades” in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s Waziristan regions and Swat Valley, and elsewhere, he said.

Well, how sweet of them. How nice. How conciliatory. So no apologies for the non-Muslim innocent men, women and children killed on 9/11 or in other terrorist attacks. Even if they believe those who worked in the Twin Towers and the Pentagon were legitimate targets, they should still apologize for the people on the planes that were rammed into them.

Oh, well. Once again we prove that it takes religion to bring out real evil in people. Sure, you can have it without religion, but believing it’s what God wants you to do sure makes it easier.

Oh, those wacky conservatives! You know what they’re up to now? Oh, you’ll love this one.

A man named Cecil Bothwell was elected to a city council seat in Asheville, North Carolina. He’s an open atheist, and good on the people of his city for electing him! However it turns out, and you’ll love this, that atheists aren’t allowed to serve in public office in North Carolina! It’s true!

Now many states have these stupid, clearly un-Constitutional laws on their books. Frankly I’m astonished the Supreme Court hasn’t struck them down yet, since they’re a clear violation of the First Amendment. Most states aren’t insane enough to enforce these laws, but one conservative ass-wipe in NC is trying to get them to enforce it in this case.

*sigh* You know what’s going to happen now, right? A couple million dollars will be spent by the local government trying to enforce this law and fighting it all the way through the court system until the Supremes strike it down. Is there no better way Asheville’s government could spend their money than this?

Oh, well. At the end of the day, there’s no doubt that Cecil Bothwell will be able to take his seat and serve his term. The only question is how long the idiots will work to stop him.

Now there’s a phrase I’d never thought I’d type, but it’s quite sincere! Hooray for Rwanda!

Why hooray? Well, they’ve come a long way since 1994, when all they could find time to do was horribly murder each other while we in the West sat back, made some annoyed grunts and then otherwise paid no attention to it (“Never again!” we cried after the Holocaust, not bothering to add, “Unless it’s black people, or European Muslims“).

But seriously, the country has come a long way. They’ve had Truth and Reconciliation committees that have met to deal with the genocide, they’ve got a reasonably stable government, and in the last week not only have they joined the Commonwealth of Nations (becoming only the second country that wasn’t a former British colony to do so), but they’ve also become the first country that was mined extensively to now be landmine free (Obama still won’t sign off on anti-landmine treaties, another black-eye in the face of America’s standing in the world, though compared with the former President who authorized secret prisons and torture, it’s really more like a small speck in the eye).

So good going, Rwanda! Keep it up and you can wind up being an example to the rest of Africa and, indeed, the rest of the world.

So the President has given his speech at West Point on the need to expand our presence in Afghanistan. I’m still cool on the idea, and I gotta say his speech didn’t change my mind much.

I’m glad that he laid out some real reasons for our presence and shot down the Vietnam comparisons, and that he addressed some of the financial issues, and it’s very good that he actually listed off some of our goals. I’d wanted the mission to be more defined, and it is, though still not as much as I’d like.

I’m also very happy he brought diplomacy up. Too often we believe in this nation that power derives from the barrel of a gun, but unless you’re willing to constantly fire that gun, you need to recognize the value of diplomacy.

And I’m quite happy he made it clear that there won’t be any more torture. We can’t find terrorism by becoming terrorists ourselves.

I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on this one, but we’d better see some progress soon.

On a side note: I really, really wish Presidents would stop ending speeches with “God bless the United States of America”. It’s trite and meaningless, and if you have to invoke God somehow, why not just say “God bless humanity”? Better yet, don’t mention God at all. No one that matters will miss it.

I have just finished reading James Caroll’s article on the recent political moves by the Catholic Church here in America. These are moves designed to frighten and intimidate and to oppress and harm, and they are being done in the name of God.

The list, from the article:

• Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence “respectfully” tells Congressman Patrick Kennedy to refrain from receiving communion, a harbinger of what every pro-choice or pro-gay-marriage Catholic politician faces.

• Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl of Washington threatens to cancel Catholic provision of services to the homeless and poor if the D.C. City Council passes a law giving equal rights to gays.

• The Vatican, uneasy with the relative liberalism of American nuns, launches an intimidating investigation of U.S. religious orders of women, which, when criticized by Maureen Dowd, prompts New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to complain of anti-Catholicism in the New York Times.

• In October, Rome violates a generation-long tradition of inter-denominational respect to invite disgruntled conservative Episcopalians to join a special new wing of the Catholic Church. Hostility to gays and rejection of equality for women trump theology, tradition, and even courtesy.

• Last week, more than a dozen of the most influential U.S. Catholic bishops (including Dolan and Wuerl) join far-right-wing Evangelicals like James Dobson in “The Manhattan Declaration: A Call to Christian Conscience.” Its co-author Chuck Colson (of Watergate fame) describes “a hierarchy of issues,” but the Catholic Church now has an issues hierarchy.

• On Capitol Hill this month, the Catholic bishops make clear their readiness to scuttle the entire package of health-reform legislation if they do not get their way on abortion restrictions. Health-care reform hangs in the Senate by a thread, which the bishops prepare to cut.

The Church has long since abroggated any moral authority as far as I’m concerned. They have a long legacy of evil that begins with the latter days of the Roman empire and extends all the way up until now. One need only look at the threats made to the DC government on charity work to see behavior that is un-Christ-like in the extreme (the same Christ who, according to myth, tended to everyone, even Romans).

Caroll believes this recent set of moves on the part of the church are primarily about deflecting attention away from things like the various rape and abuse scandals worldwide, particularly in places like Ireland.

The Catholic Church is such a fundamentally evil, immoral and all-around fucked-up organization that I’m seriously curious about something: for those of you who are Catholics, and who are against some of the tactics of your Church or some of the things they preach (like not allowing condom use and the like), how do you justify staying with the Church? Why not shop around and go to a church that’s more in line with what you believe to be right than continuing to support a church that does so much that’s wrong?

The only thing that pleases me about this whole story is that the more the Church does shit like this, the more support they lose worldwide, especially in places like Europe. I sincerely hope I live to see the day the Vatican has to file for financial bankruptcy. Their moral bankruptcy has already happened.

Die Schweiz uber alles!

Guys, I’d expected better of you, thought goodness knows why. I mean, have you Swiss lost your minds? Are your brains as full of holes as the cheese that bears your name?

I’m referring to the recent referendum banning construction of minarets in Switzerland. Apparently the four (4) that currently exist are more than enough, thank you, despite the hundreds of thousands of Muslims that live in the country. What, you people want to alienate and piss them off?

What the hell is wrong with you people? I understand it can be annoying to sit there listening to a loudspeaker blaring away in another language (I live right next to a Hebrew school and frequently hear chanting in Hebrew over their loudspeaker), but the minarets in Switzerland don’t even do the calls to prayer.

There’s no excuse for this. It would be different if you people had passed a law banning all religious buildings (though that would also be bad), but instead you passed something like this horrible thing.

I really expected better of you people.