PUBLIC MARKS from jasontromm with tag christmas

Don't bother making jokes. This family has heard them all. No, they don't communicate directly with Santa Claus. They don't celebrate the holidays year-round, and they certainly have some not-so-cheerful days. The smirks and the wisecracks are just part of life when your last name is Christmas, and especially so when two of your family members are named no joke Mary.

There's been a huge uproar over the Christmas trees at the Seattle airport being taken down – and then put up again – when a rabbi asked to have a menorah included in the facility's seasonal display. But WND has discovered that neither side had any dispute with the Christmas trees themselves, and the whole disagreement stemmed from the fact the airport considers the trees secular ornaments to the season.

The vast majority of Britons oppose moves to secularize Christmas, according to a new poll. The survey found that 80% believe celebrating the birth of Christ remains an important part of the festival. The study follows a string of high-profile media reports of apparent attempts to rebrand Christmas on secular lines as a "winter" celebration.

If you don’t celebrate Christmas this time of year, and you are easily offended, stop reading this now. If you are still reading, out of curiosity, but you celebrate a holiday other than Christmas this time of the year, please understand that no one wishes to deprive you of your own special celebration, but the United State, as a country, celebrates Christmas. Christmas, not those other things, is our national holiday. We welcome and accommodate other celebrations, but our main celebration this time of the year is Christmas. It’s a long tradition, and it’s going to continue.

A public-school handout urging young children in Virginia to attend a "Pagan ritual" tomorrow to "celebrate Yule" is sparking objections from concerned parents. "Amazing -- government schools ban orthodox Christianity, but allow an openly pagan organization to proselytize six-year-olds!" one observer who asked for anonymity told WND.

The Young Conservatives of Texas -- University of Texas Chapter announced today that they will be displaying an “ACLU Nativity Scene” on the West Mall of the University of Texas campus on Monday and Tuesday, December 4th and 5th. The group’s intent is to raise awareness on the extremity of the ACLU, and bring to light its secular-progressive efforts to remove Christmas from the public sphere. The display, the first of its kind in the nation, will feature characters that are quite a bit different than the standard crèche. “We’ve got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn’t a Jesus in the manger,” said Chairman Tony McDonald. “The three Wise Men are Lenin, Marx, and Stalin because the founders of the ACLU were strident supporters of Soviet style Communism.”

Public school officials make sure religion scrubbed from holidays Seeking to ensure there was no association with Christmas, a Massachusetts school barred students from wearing red and green elf hats during its "winter pageant," one of many cases reported by a public-interest legal group running a campaign to "educate" the educators about religion in public schools.

This year's "War for Christmas" -- keeping "Christ" in the holiday has apparently been won. And, like many "wars," there has even been a Congressional resolution in support of keeping Christmas alive and well.

The latest reason for gun control and gun rights activists to sharpen their rhetoric is a Christmas card released by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The card features an armed Santa Claus attempting to shield three children from a terrorist.

With the Christmas season upon us, columnist Frank Salvato has some thoughts on the biggest holiday of the year, the difference between "progressive" and "regressive," and how the "War on Christmas" was won in 1870.

Tourists and pilgrims are slowly returning to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, after years of staying away from the West Bank city, officials and residents said. However, some are concerned that Israel's security barrier and a brand new crossing terminal might curb that trend.

Along with the many seasonal clashes over the display of Christmas trees and religious items, there are disputes over the sale of toys like the G.I. Joe action figure and squirt guns, which the anti-war group Code Pink believes are inappropriate.

Just days before Christmas, a public-interest legal group is pressing officials at three public schools and at a retirement community to allow celebration of the holiday.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the House, The Republicans were stirring, especially The Louse. There were gifts to be taken and given to Special Interest Friends No worry about your future, on their Cronies They Spend.

A house with Christmas lights set to music by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra

It was the week before Christmas and I was using my mouse while surfing the web to buy a new house. My apartment was placed on an ad-space with care with the hopes that some buyer would pay something fair when upon reading an article at Jeremy’s site I was reminded that I was hosting the Carnival tonight!

'Silent Night' silenced, 'Merry Christmas' censored, candy-cane story spiked The war on Christmas continues to rage in America's public schools, but so does the counteroffensive.

A WA hospital has scrubbed baked ham from its Christmas menu, fearing Muslim patients could be offended. It has also overhauled its entire menu so that all meals are now halal – containing only meat and other food prepared according to Muslim customs.

With many large churches across the U.S. announcing they won't be open on Christmas Day, some pastors are defending their decision to stay closed, even going so far as to blast those who question their motives.

A parent is challenging a New Jersey school district's ban on Christmas music with a lawsuit that has reached a federal appeals court.

Representing a Jewish organization that defends Christians, comedian Jackie Mason will ride down New York City's 5th Avenue today to highlight the "war on Christmas." Mason is a founding member of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation, or JAACD, the organization sponsoring the event. According to a statement from the group, the entertainer will ride in a 15-foot Ford Excursion with banners proclaiming, "Jews for 'It's OK To Say Merry Christmas.'"

Managers in charge of two federally subsidized housing facilities have told residents in one case they cannot sing Christmas carols, and in another they can't decorate their own entry doors with religious symbols, according to a religious-liberty law firm.

A Wisconsin school that had secularized the lyrics of the beloved Christmas carol "Silent Night" has now agreed to change the words back to the original after receiving countless phone calls and e-mails about the issue.

In addition to celebrating the birth of our Savior, Christmas is also a time when "nice" children eagerly await a gift in their stocking. On the other hand, those who are "naughty" are told that only a lump of coal awaits them. In politics, this practice would yield record profits for the coal industry as the Democrats have set new standards in obstruction, attacks, and rhetoric.

Attorneys with the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will attend town council meetings in the Village of Wellington, Florida, and the Borough of Beaver, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, December 13, 2005, to request that their clients be permitted to erect nativity scenes on public property.