You learn something new every day

[Boy With A Problem]

Mr. A wrote -

And today I committed to sign all of my business correspondence with the salutation "Merry Christmas". If the recipient doesn't like it, and choses to take their business elsewhere as a result of my Christmas Greeting, then it is a risk worth taking to remain firm in my convictions.

I sent all my business correspondence anonymously today. I wanted to sign "eat me", but decided I really couldn't risk being firm in my convictions.

[Mr. Average]

God Bless You, BWAP. What a sweetheart!
Merry Christmas.

(Finally, I understand the Problem)

[Mr. Average]

And Happy Hannukah to you, Blue Chair.

[selfmademug]

I wanted to sign "eat me", but decided I really couldn't risk being firm in my convictions.

I think you did the right thing-- where "eat me" is involved, firm convictions may not be wise. Anyway if you have firm convictions you certainly don't need to force them on your business clients.

[Mr. Average]

Force? Where is force involved? No force, just a positive greeting that, for years, was not offensive to anyone. Sad, lonely people with too much time to be miserable have decided to bleed their misery onto others who celebrate such things.

Why are you three so threatened by this greeting? Does it imply insensitivity to your atheism? Your Judism? Does it hurt you that I find solace, peace, and happiness in my Faith? Why?

If you find solace, peace, and happiness in Taoism, Judism, Islam, or in your lack of belief it does not hurt me, or threaten me, or make me want to lash out and type sonething spiteful, even hateful.

I don't want to convert you. But while I have beliefs and opinions diametrically oppossed to the atheists and agnostics, I have no need to attack. Why do you? Even the mention of prayer, or the Pope, induces such vitriole, and then, the celebration of the "bravery" and "strength" and "grace under pressure" of those who would rather hurt others...who actually derive pleasure and some sense of strength from it.

It is very sad.

I wish you all good fortune, Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to all.

Your attacks have taken the desired toll. Your cleverly masked spite and hate wins this time.

You must be very proud. Merry Christmas.

[Extreme Honey]

And Happy Hannukah to you, Blue Chair.

Blue is a jew?


Oh and regarding your post Mr.A, I'm officially a non-practising Roman Catholic, and I sincerely believe that religion has braught nothing but destruction to this world. Countless blood has been spilled for ancient theories that have gone a bit too far, and the battleground for that war is the Middle East, and the USA. Therefore, instead of writing some of my more perverted thoughts on this subject, I leave you all to a song that tells us of what is really important:

Imagine by John Lennon:

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

[Who Shot Sam?]

Imagine by John Lennon

The Word magazine cited that as the worst song ever written in their most recent issue. I know they were just trying to be provocative, but they do have a point. I've never liked it much.

[Otis Westinghouse]

A week on and I still don't have it! They're posting me a new one.

[Boy With A Problem]

Mr. A wrote -

Why are you three so threatened by this greeting? Does it imply insensitivity to your atheism? Your Judism? Does it hurt you that I find solace, peace, and happiness in my Faith? Why?

Not threatened at all by the greeting Merry Christmas. As a matter of fact I am the owner of several boxes of ornaments; many of which refer to Christmas and even some that very explicitly proclaim, "Merry Christmas". We're getting a tree this afternoon. We'll play Christmas music while we trim the tree - a lot of the songs we hear will refer to Jesus - we won't be offended - hopefully we'll be a little drunk. Afterwards I'll watch the Patriots game on the satellite dish.

I just found your post quite amusing - your seeming to think that you are making a very bold statement by using the "Merry Christmas" salutation - unswerving in your moral convictions - a modern day Tommy Smith and John Carlos!


Anyway - I really do hope your family have a happy holiday season (which includes Christmas, but also includes New Years Eve and Day and all the bowl games).

Otis wrote:

A week on and I still don't have it! They're posting me a new one.

It's an especially good one this month - nice interview with Mark E Smith - and I really enjoyed the article WSS refers to (I see a future thread).

[Mr. Average]

Thank you for your comments, BWAP. You are what you are, and your biting comments, I am sure, are great fun for you and others. Your rapier sharp wit wins every time regardless of the destruction it leaves in its wake (on par with El Vez, but he is a Master Blaster of incredible wit, and pointed sarcasm that hits the mark and provokes thought He thinks of the implications of his wit, and uses the gift, for the most part, responsibly and with great skill). Hey, clearly to many, the joy of derrogation is empowering, and in your case BWAP you must feel very strong indeed after belittling an anonymous poster (since early Island Days) for sport. I particularly like the way others "follow the leader"...wait for the first salvo, then pile on. No mind. No thinking. Just a lame sport. Well sir, you have earned a leadership roll on that team, and I hope that the rewards are great for you when the ledgers are reviewed and the cost of being an asshole is leveraged against the only reward that counts.

I asked my comment mostly in response to the comments of SelfMadeMug, the poor victim who uses the 'post and run' tactic better than anyone here, then gains noteriety for courage as she disappears to another thread to share with us all how sad her lot is because she is so afflicted by the cards dealt. The victim of the board. Once again, she did not answer a pointed and very fair question, just ran to another thread to talk about tortilla's or construct a expletive-laced and hurtful comment aimed at someone outside of her little fanclub. Just for laughs. So Selfmade of Courgae and Grace, I axe you as the rationalizer of the Iraqi beheadings of innocent people, How did I FORCE my religious beliefs by wishing a traditional, age-old greeting on my peers and work associates. Of course, no response. Just a sub-four minute mile to another thread.

Revel in your cligue and in your false sense of courage. Those who ignore their history are damned to its repeat. So for all the pseudo-intelligensia regurgitaing the same old vitriole, someday you will realize the Truth. And I am certain that, under the right circumstances, the spiteful MBA, SMM,WSS,BWAP,SLL will drop to their knee's and beg, yes, beg the good Lord above to help them through an incredible time of crisis. It is inevitable, And it will happen. And when it does, there will be a little tiny voice that tells you that, deep down inside, you knew that you would do it all along.It was just to cool, too much in vogue, to proclaim that science supercedes faith, and that God cannot exist because he doesn't work in the way that you imagine that he should. Because hell-fire, you guys certainly know more about life, evolution, creationsim, and death than any of the rest of us. You are so smart.

Today.

I'll pray for your tomorrow, where I am sure that my prayers will be answered.

"People, Stop Huring People"
-The Truth Confronts You.
The Truth Confronts you like a Sea Crushing without Detail.
Impassioned, yet detached.
Killing with Love and Power in God's Name"

---Peter Townshend

Merry Christmas and Happy Hannekuh to All.

[mood swung]

I had a little epiphany while driving down I-40 (west) at 5:30 this morning: while I've always thought of myself as a Jim West kind of girl, I'm really more Artemis Gordon. At least 37 years wasted.

[BlueChair]

I can't decide what to have for breakfast.

[Who Shot Sam?]

I learned that Wikipedia has an exhaustive listing for the word "asshole":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asshole

[El Vez]

Thanks to Big Sweet Life: The Songs of Jon Dee Graham, I learned how to pronounce Legg-Perthes.

[selfmademug]

For anyone who is interested, and I can't imagine anyone is, a long time ago someone here accused me of sympathizing with Iraqi terrorists, while in fact I was trying to console people on the board about a particular loss. After pleas from me that he stop portraying my well-intentioned post as one that condoned torture and murder, I vowed never to reply to that person again. It has made things much easier for me, as I've got plenty of other people to argue with.

I find the whole self-righteous and aggressive use of the word "Christmas" over the more inclusive "holidays" (holy days, as Stephen Colbert pointed out the other night!) to be decidedly un-Christian. It smacks of intolerance but more than that it's just silly, because it's borne of a cynical political campaign. Among my friends whom I know to be Christian, I freely say "Merry Christmas". To those I don't know, I say "Happy Holidays". Simple as that. Said holidays are about love for those we know and those we don't, as I tell my son. Given the level of cultural intolerance in this country and the strong-arming of Christianity into our government, I don't think saying "Merry Christmas" to a Muslim or a Jew, or to an atheist for that matter, is an expression of love. It just says, "Screw you, enjoy MY holiday-- I'm in the majority!"

[miss buenos aires]

I don't even think saying "Merry Christmas" to someone you don't know is rude. It's the people who have made a crusade of NOT saying "Happy Holidays" that irk me. Say whatever you want; just don't go around bitching about what OTHER people say.

[selfmademug]

But MBA, I thought we were supposed to be in unthinking lockstep with each other! How can you do this!?!

Seriosuly it's that cynical campaign that bugs me the most, too. That the Christian right's issue-du-jour is to encourage people to go out of their way to STOP saying Happy Holidays... well it doesn't exactly scream "true spirit of Christmas" to me.

[Boy With A Problem]

Mood Swung wrote -

I had a little epiphany while driving down I-40 (west) at 5:30 this morning: while I've always thought of myself as a Jim West kind of girl, I'm really more Artemis Gordon. At least 37 years wasted.

Artemis was way cooler - all those disguises - I always thought Jim West was a little creepy. One of the coolest things about that show was when they broke for commercials and another piece of the montage of drawings turned into a still from the frame of the last scene.

[Otis Westinghouse]

This 'Happy/Merry Christmas' issue is a much bigger deal over there than here. The phrase 'Happy holidays' is unknown here, and the trad phrase is accepted and used by atheist, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, pagan and Christian alike, in the majority of cases, e.g. in the sending and receiving of cards from companies. In the 80s/90s it became very common for people to write 'Happy Chrimbo' as a way of showing their distance from the Christian origins of the festival, but that's passed.

[Extreme Honey]

Imagine by John Lennon

The Word magazine cited that as the worst song ever written in their most recent issue. I know they were just trying to be provocative, but they do have a point. I've never liked it much.

Ya I guess you're right the lyrics ain't nothing comapred to Elvis or Bob but the melody is one of the best of all time IMO. And of course even though it has simple lyrics with a simple concept and has absolutely no puns or hidden meaning that I can think of, it is nevertheless a powerful song with a true message that touched many, many people around the world. And if a rap song could achieve that as well, than I would respect it just as much.

[noiseradio]

My beef with "Imagine" isn't just that I disagree with John (the prospect of there being no heaven doesn't actually thrill me much), but that he's a hypocrite. As Elvis once sang, "was it a millionaire who said 'imagine no possessions?'" I just think the prospect of a guy living in a New York loft playing a white Steinway grand piano, collecting millions in royalties, with climate control for his furs is a hypocrite when he opines about how great it would be if there were no possessions. Tell you what, John, you give your stuff away first, and I'll get in line. It's 3 1/2 minutes of platitudes set to a pretty piano melody. And nowhere near his best or most compelling work.

I see some of us are fighting the War on Christmas. Don't you guys know? You're supposed to say Happy Xmas. War is over.

[miss buenos aires]

Yesterday I learned the word "amigovio." It's when someone is neither your amigo nor your novio, but something in between. Sadly, I have not had an amigovio in some time.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Great word! My wife and I were increasingly intense amigovios for a long time, fearful of making a mistake, and then we crossed the line into noviohood and then became novios in the 'engaged' sense, though we were never actually engaged, we just decided we wanted to get married.

[pophead2k]

My beef with "Imagine" isn't just that I disagree with John (the prospect of there being no heaven doesn't actually thrill me much), but that he's a hypocrite. As Elvis once sang, "was it a millionaire who said 'imagine no possessions?'" I just think the prospect of a guy living in a New York loft playing a white Steinway grand piano, collecting millions in royalties, with climate control for his furs is a hypocrite when he opines about how great it would be if there were no possessions. Tell you what, John, you give your stuff away first, and I'll get in line. It's 3 1/2 minutes of platitudes set to a pretty piano melody. And nowhere near his best or most compelling work.

I see some of us are fighting the War on Christmas. Don't you guys know? You're supposed to say Happy Xmas. War is over.

I guess I'll quibble a bit here, although I do agree that Imagine is not his 'best or most compelling work'. I think you have to take into account that Imagine is a musical interpretation of much of Yoko's conceptual work of the 1960s, much of which focused on dreaming and imagining various situations and things. I don't read the song as John advocating anyone to do anything, other than imagine what the world could have been like without possessions, religions, etc. The call is to 'imagine', not to give away your things or turn your back on religion per se. When I think of Imagine, I think of possibilities untapped, not a behavioral tract. But that's just me. And Happy Xmas, but war isn't over (even if I want it)!

[BlueChair]

Today I learned that Tucker Carlson is even more of a shithead than I had thought:

U.S. pundits bash 'retarded cousin' Canada
Dec. 19, 2005. 04:11 PM
BETH GORHAM
CANADIAN PRESS

WASHINGTON — Canada has been described lately by a conservative U.S. television host as "a stalker" and a "retarded cousin."

Another pundit recently asked if Canadians weren't getting "a little too big for their britches."

There's been a spate of Canada-bashing by right-wing media commentators in the United States ever since Prime Minister Paul Martin's complaints about lumber penalties and U.S. policy on climate change. His remarks prompted an unusual rebuke last week from the American ambassador.

The attacks on Canada have had web bloggers typing overtime and a non-profit group that's monitoring the trend, Media Matters for America, says it's disturbing.

Yet Paul Waldman, a senior fellow for the group, said Monday the criticism is confined to the usual faction that erupts whenever there's criticism of President George W. Bush's administration and it probably won't last past Canada's Jan. 23 election.

"There are always going to be occasions when it pops up. But Canada is never going to occupy an extraordinary amount of American thought," said Waldman.

"It's more like: `Who can we beat on today?' It's never going to reach the heights of animosity toward France in the run-up to the Iraq war."

Last week, MSNBC host Tucker Carlson, a well-known conservative pundit, let loose with a string of anti-Canada rants.

"Anybody with any ambition at all, or intelligence, has left Canada and is now living in New York," he said.

"Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he's nice but you don't take him seriously. That's Canada."

Carlson also said it's pointless to tell Canada to stop criticizing the United States.

"It only eggs them on. Canada is essentially a stalker, stalking the United States, right? Canada has little pictures of us in its bedroom, right?"

"It's unrequited love between Canada and the United States. We, meanwhile, don't even know Canada's name. We pay no attention at all," he said.

The day before, Fox News host Neil Cavuto highlighted Martin's remark at a news conference that the United States is a "reticent nation" lacking a "global conscience" on climate change.

"So have the Canadians gotten a little too big for their britches?" Cavuto asked.

"Could our neighbours to the north soon be our enemies?"

Douglas MacKinnon, a press secretary to former Republican senator Bob Dole, also recently accused Canada of harbouring terrorists.

"Can Canada really be considered our friend anymore?" he asked in a recent commentary in the right-wing Washington Times newspaper.

"What other question can be asked when the Canadian government not only willingly allows Islamic terrorists into their country but does nothing to stop them from entering our nation?"

U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins warned Martin last week to tone down anti-American jabs or risk hurting bilateral relations. But Martin was unrepentant, saying he would "not be dictated to" by the United States and his hard line appears to be resonating with some voters.

While the offensive from American pundits isn't widespread, it still has the potential to affect cross-border ties, said Waldman.

"On Capitol Hill, the TVs are turned to Fox News. This kind of media environment is what the White House pays attention to," he said.

"That hostility is probably shared by a lot of people in the administration."