California Tea Bagger shows her true colors.

[Archae]

Or color, in this case.

Lily-white Christian.

The Tea Party movement is supposed to be all about keeping the government out of your business. But if some California members get their way, the state will force public school children to sing Christmas carols.

It's called the "Freedom to Present Christmas Music in Public School Classrooms or Assemblies" initiative.

Merry Hyatt, a substitute teacher and member of the Redding Tea Party Patriots, is behind the push. The Record Searchlight reports:

The initiative would require schools to provide children the opportunity to listen to or perform Christmas carols, and would subject the schools to litigation if the rule isn't followed.

"Bottom line is Christmas is about Christmas," said Erin Ryan, president of the Redding Tea Party Patriots. "That's why we have it. It's not about winter solstice or Kwanzaa. It's like, 'Wow you guys, it's called Christmas for a reason.' "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/10/merry-hyatt-tea-party-pat_n_387408.html

"What a maroon!" -Bugs Bunny

[marmar]

1. I have yet to read a quote from a teabagger than indicates any of them......

...... have more than 3 functioning brain cells.


:dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
:dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
:dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
:dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:
:dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce: :dunce:

[Archae]

28. It's the intelligent ones that scare me.

Like Dick Armey.

[XemaSab]

43. You might be surprised

n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Maybe she'll enjoy listening to the Dreidel song. If you open the door to one religion then

you gotta let everyone in. Since it's their holiday season too, there would be no way the school could say no.

[DBoon]

5. problem with your argument

You assume religions are equivalent.

This woman believes christianity is the sole American religion and is superior to all others. Her argument is that since America is a uniquely christian nation, the governmetn should endirse the christian faith above all others.

Allowing other religions in would be government endorsement of false idols.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Oh I know how she thinks. I encounter it all the time. But her argument alone is what should

keep anyone from deciding in her favor. (Unless it went before a Roy Moore type of judge. That could be a problem.)

[blondeatlast]

8. My son's school band plays "Dreidel" among many others.

It's always a big favorite--and I know for a fact that a fundie who didn't know better LOVED it last Holiday pageant. Gotta love that irony--I didn't wise her up; maybe I should have.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. We do a mix of songs and poems honoring the various holidays connected with the season. I've

never heard of anyone having complaints. (And in a village this size I most likely would have if there were any.)

[Ikonoklast]

3. A teacher completely ignorant of religious history.

Solstice was celebrated for five thousand years (at least) before Jeebus was even invented.

Xtians are Johnny-come-latelies to that party.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. And thieves too. They stole the season and the Christmas tree idea from

earlier religions. Based on what the Bible says, it sounds like Christ was probably born in spring or fall when shepherds were out there watching their flocks. (More likely fall based on some calculations done on the birth of John the Baptist.)

[LiberalFighter]

22. Christianity recreated themselves from the Jewish religion.

If Christianity was a totally new religion with no ties to the Jewish religion it would not had lasted more than a few centuries. But of course they stole their ideas from the Jewish religion as well as the Egyptians.

Jesus never was a Christian. He was at best a Reformed Jew.

[Ghost in the Machine]

4. Maybe Merry should read this:

Chapter 7 of "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors":

THE TWENTY-FIFTH OF DECEMBER THE BIRTHDAY OF THE GODS.

DIVESTED of all explanation, the announcement of the fact that the time of the birth of many of the incarnated Gods and Saviors of antiquity was fixed at the same period, and this period the twenty-fifth of December, celebrated all over Christendom as the birthday of Jesus Christ, would sound marvelously strange, especially when it is noticed that this period formerly dated the birth of a new year—the birth of King Sol. And when we find that the ancient pagans were in the habit of celebrating this venerated twenty-fifth of December as the birthday of their Gods in the same manner Christians now celebrate it as the birthday of Christ, we are driven to admit that something more than mere fortuitous accident must be adduced to account for the coincidence.

According to Dr. Lightfoot, the temple of Jerusalem was employed in celebrating the birthday of a pagan God (Adonis) on the very night Christians assign for the birth of Christ. And Robert Taylor informs us that nearly all the nations of the East were once in the habit of rising at midnight to celebrate the birthday of their Gods, on the twenty-fifth of December. And to this statement Mr. Higgins adds that, "At the first moment after midnight of the twenty-fourth of December, the ancient nations celebrated the accouchement of the queen of heaven and celestial virgin, and the birth of the God Sol, the Infant Savior, and the God of Day.

Bacchus of Egypt, Bacchus of Greece, Adonis of Greece, Chrishna of India, Chang-ti of China, Chris of Chaldea, Mithra of Persia, Sakia of India, Jao Wapaul (a crucified Savior of ancient Britain), were all born on the twenty-fifth of December, according to their respective histories. Chrishna is represented to have been born at midnight on the twenty-fifth of the month Savarana, which answers to our December, and millions of his disciples celebrated his birthday by decorating their houses with garlands and gilt paper, and the bestowment of presents to friends. The Rev. Mr. Barret tells us, "It was once common for the women in Rome to perambulate the streets on the twenty-fifth of December, singing in a loud voice, "Unto us a child is born this day."

The twenty-fifth of December, then, it will be observed, was marked as the birthday of the incarnated Gods, Saviors, and Sons of God, of many of the religious systems of antiquity, long prior to the birth of Christ.

And why his birth was fixed at that date is not hard to account for. According to the celebrated Christian writer Mr. Goodrich, the Christian world had no chronology and recorded no dates for several centuries after the commencement of the Christian era. (See History of all Nations, p. 23.) No event of their history was marked by dates for nearly four hundred years. Hence, the time of Christ's birth is altogether a matter of conjecture, as is also every other event noticed in the Christian bible. This is proved by the fact that the ablest Christian writers and chronologists differ to the extent of thirty-five hundred years in fixing the time of every event in the bible. A Mr. Kennedy presents us with three hundred different chronological systems, by different Christian writers, all founded on the bible, and proving that the date of its various events are inextricably involved in a labyrinth of doubt, darkness and uncertainty.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/cv/wscs/wscs13.htm

[Nikki Stone1]

7. The 25th of December is when the days start getting longer: the gods were astrological

.....

[blondeatlast]

11. Great read. The similarities between the many forms of spirituality

is one reason I do believe.

[Dogtown]

24. It could be that the varying mythologies were all constructed

to fulfill the same basic psychological needs; hence, the similarities in their construction. That these needs are emotional rather than intellectual is suggested by the lack of imagination displayed in crafting stories to satisfy them.


By your argument, children's fairy tales the world over are remarkably similar, so we should believe them, as well.


People believe, against all evidence, because they want desperately to believe.

[blondeatlast]

26. Yes, I want to believe, bit not desperately. I tried agnosticism and

found it lacking. Your mileage is entitled to vary.

[Dogtown]

27. Sorry for the imperative.

You're right, of course. You can definitely want to experience spirituality with out that need being desperate.

I didn't mean to sound judgemental.

[malaise]

35. +1 n/t

[dgibby]

9. Why should Christmas be designated a national holiday

when we don't give holidays for important observances of other religions? And why, if the US is a "Christian" nation,isn't Easter a national holiday as well? Makes absolutely no sense to me.:shrug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Easter doesn't really bring out the consumers to the same degree.

[kestrel91316]

13. Easter always falls on a Sunday. There are no federal holidays on

Sundays because federal workers don't as a general rule work on Sundays and need the day off. Plus Easter is purely a religious holiday. I am not aware of any secular tradition attached to it.

:shrug:

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Easter has some secular observances attached and presents a decent marketing opportunity.

Easter egg hunts and candy baskets, plus family gatherings for a ham or other special dinner, are observed in many families with no active Christian observance. It's similar to the secular Christmas traditions but on a more modest scale.

I think what you noted first, that Easter always fall on a Sunday, is the main reason it never became a holiday.

[XemaSab]

44. Easter is always on Sunday

Unless you work in a restaurant or work retail, you probably get it off.

[DinahMoeHum]

14. Fuck her. Public schools are for academics, not religion.

The problem is that the most "popular" religion in a given area will never allow the free exercise or teaching of ANY OTHER religion.
Either allow for ALL of them or don't bother with ANY of them.
BUT. . .
If you allow all, there will be no time for classes (remember, what are the kids in school for anyway?) because you'd always be celebrating someone’s holiday or observance.

She can let the kids listen to and/or perform Christmas carols at a private religious school, but public schools (paid for by EVERYBODY'S taxes) are for academics, not religion.

[HopeHoops]

16. If you let the Christians in, next thing you'll have NAMBLA and the Nazis wanting THEIR songs....

Just turning their rhetoric back on them. The Chambersburg, PA council recently used that very same logic for rejecting a sign by an Athiest/Agnostic group. This also meant that the traditional nativity on the town square had to go. The "Christians" said the Athiests were trying to eliminate Christmas. That wasn't the case at all. All the group wanted was to ALSO be allowed to put up a display in the form of a simple sign. The council decided nothing was better than opening the door to letting NAMBLA and the Nazis put up displays. Meanwhile, the church directly opposite the square immediately offered (and is) to host the nativity display on their property.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. Given the Church shortage in this country, no wonder we need to have these things on public property

can't find a friggin' church anywhere, can you.

[HopeHoops]

32. LOL - My last job was in GIS technologies and I had map layers...

I was looking at the map of Harrisburg, PA and added the "churches" layer. The whole fucking city turned red!!! The next time I drove through it, I took note of the churches and sure as shit, it seemed like every other building was a church on some streets. Most of them are 150+ years old - rather beautiful stone buildings.

[Warren DeMontague]

33. No doubt. "Damn! Now where can we put this 10 Commandments monument?"

"Hmmmmmm."

[HopeHoops]

36. E-FUCKING-GADS! That needed a STRONG warning for graphic content!

Getting hit with the dumbfuck this early in the morning is rather harsh!

[Warren DeMontague]

39. Sorry.

Guess it's a little early for nostalgia. :rofl:

[HopeHoops]

40. Nostalgia? NOSTALGIA!?!?!? Wait for Halloween for shit like that!

That's one funky-ass monster.

[krabigirl]

17. What a loon...she should NOT be allowed around children.

Sadly, this might pass, there are so many fundies in CA.

[krabigirl]

18. I forgot to mention, why do these people INSIST on sucking the joy out of Christmas?

Legislating Christmas carols?!>!

edit: if this crap passes, I am homeschooling or sending my kids to a secular private school. There's a LILA (French secular) school near me...I think I'd take a second job or someting to afford it and get away from this crap.

[blondeatlast]

21. Exactly; it isn't the Jews or atheists or agnostics or Muslims--

it's the needle-up-their-asses Christians that spoil it.

[krabigirl]

23. Yep. They are the ones who make this season unbearable at times.

I'm an agnostic who celebrates Christmas (well solstice too..I'd celebrate them all if I could lol). I don't even care about carols or who says Merry Christmas, but these people make Christmas sooo depressing.

[blondeatlast]

25. I'm a Christian and it pisses me off no end. I've stopped listening to a great

radio station because the drive-time deejays are falling over themselves mocking people who have the temerity to say "Happy holidays."

I'll wish my fellow human good vibes any damn way I want to, thank you very much. And for me, who has relatives who are Hindu, Muslim, agnostic, and a good Jewish friend, it's "happy holidays." It's just easier to remember!

Happy holidays to you, kg!

[Initech]

20. Teh stupid!!! It hurts!!!

:banghead:

[Warren DeMontague]

29. "keeping the government out of your business." ---yeah. That's why they want it in your uterus.

And your bedroom. And your medicine cabinet.

Anyone who genuinely thinks Conservatives want 'less intrusive' government is high.

[Warren DeMontague]

30. "It's called Christmas for a reason"--- yeah. Because "Saturnalia" was too hard to pronounce.

While we're at it, someone should take her aside and explain to her what all those Bunnies and Eggs at Easter really are about.

[TicketyBoo]

34. I'm glad I got to sing Christmas carols

when I was a youngster in school. I have fond memories of Christmas programs in which I participated and those of friends and relatives I attended.

As far as I know, they are still doing Christmas programs in the schools here, although maybe comprised of more secular music, such as Sleigh Ride, Winter Wonderland, Frosty the Snowman, and such.

[crazyjoe]

37. the way I'm reading it, they are saying you can't

disallow christmas songs, not that you have to sing christmas songs.
am i missing something?

[jmowreader]

38. As long as the bill requires them to sing the Mr. Hankey song, it's okay with me

The problem with all the War On People Who Don't Wanna Celebrate Christmas crap is, it totally disregards the real reason for the season.

Which is, of course, that people need a reason to be happy during the worst part of the year, so every group always put its biggest celebration of the year then. If the natives spend the wintertime having lots and lots of parties and ceremonies, the fact the snow's up to the roof isn't really so bad.

So, without further ado...

Mister Hankey, the Christmas Poo!
He loves me and I love you
Therefore, vicariously, he loves you
Even if you're a Jew!

Sometimes he's nutty, sometimes he's corny
He could be brown or greenish brown
But if you eat fiber on Christmas Eve
He might come to your town!

[Odin2005]

41. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY!!!

:banghead:

[XemaSab]

42. I think it's time to link back to this thread I posted

Seriously, if you could ask a certain prominent Tea Party member possibly named Erin ONE THING, what would it be? :D

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7184514