Okay I said I wouldn't get drawn into the War on Christmas nonsense, but I just couldn't resist this little contribution.  I went Christmas shopping yesterday in a mall in Massachusetts--you know, the land of the left-leaning liberal democrats?  Bluest of the blue states?

I heard Christmas music playing in every store.  And not just nondenominational music, religious carols.  I heard The First Noel, Oh Holy Night, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, and The Little Drummer Boy.  I completed about 10 transactions.  Only one person wished me "Happy Holidays", the rest said "Merry Christmas".

One lady who waited on me and was obviously a Wiccan was nice enough to wish me Merry Christmas just the same, although for her Yule was already over.

There were signs and other decorations acknowledging Christmas as Christmas everywhere, confirming for me what I have already known about the "War on Christmas": IT ISN'T HAPPENING.

And for those of you who claim it is: YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT.

What people have to keep in mind is that this is a big nation, and on any spectrum, there will always be a couple of outliers, and because of our sensationalist news media, the outliers get all the attention.  This is why when a six year old boy gets suspended from school for kissing a six year old girl on the playground, you hear about it, and if you're like me you probably shake your head in disgust because it is an example of ridiculous overreaction.

But many people go on to say "this is what's wrong with our country today" as if one overreaction is a sign of some sort of trend.  People latch on to stories like this, tell and retell them, and bemoan the state of this great nation, usually without bothering check all the facts.  Sometimes the complaint turns out to be baseless long after it has merged into our cultural consciousness.  I'll give you an example:  Why do the lids of carry-out coffee cups everywhere say "Caution: contents are hot" on them?

I'd bet that 90% of the people who read that would respond "Because some idiot bought a cup of coffee at a McDonald's drive-through, spilled it on themselves, and filed a (frivolous) lawsuit against the company."  I've had people mention that story to me in one form or another for years now and it pisses me off every time.  Know the truth!

As an example pertinent to the War on Christmas, how about this shocking bit of news:

From the article School Okays 'Christmas Witch,' Menorahs; Rewrites 'Silent Night' (American Family Association):

The "war against Christmas" rages on. A Wisconsin elementary school has changed the song "Silent Night" to "Cold in the Night," and secularized the lyrics.

Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville may be taking a cue from the White House, which as been sending out greeting cards in the last few weeks, wishing recipients a happy "Holiday Season" rather than "Merry Christmas." The school's "Winter Program" features a secularized version of the traditional Christmas carol "Silent Night" with the following lyrics:

Cold in the night, no one in sight;
Winter winds whirl and bite.
How I wish I were happy and warm,
Safe with my family out of the storm.

A concerned parent whose child attends Ridgeway Elementary contacted the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, which has contacted the school. The legal group's president and general counsel, Mat Staver, explains that as part of its program, the school has also included decorations from other holiday themes.

"At the same time the school has changed the religious songs to secular," Staver says, "their so-called 'Winter Program' has included decorating classrooms with Santa Claus, Kwanzaa, menorahs, and even Labafana -- a term I'd not even heard of until this year." Labafana, he says, is "apparently a Christmas witch."

The attorney says Ridgeway is now a target of Liberty Counsel's "Friend or Foe" campaign. "As a result of this absurdness, Liberty Counsel has issued a demand letter on behalf of a parent whose child attends this elementary school, and who will be participating in this program if the school does not back down." That demand letter, he says, asks for an immediate change in the program -- or Liberty Counsel will file suit.

The basic premise of the "Friend or Foe" campaign is to educate the public that it is legal to celebrate Christmas in schools, public buildings, and private businesses -- including use of the word "Christmas," singing of religious Christmas carols, and displaying of Nativity scenes. According to Staver, there indeed is a war on Christmas...

Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?  Why rewrite the lyrics of Silent Night?  Why not just make up a different carol with new music?  It's the war on God!  No religion in the public square!  The liberal atheists are trying to turn our kids into, uh ... (yawn) ... sorry.  The truth is, like so much else repeated by conservative wingnuts, is that the above story is 90% bullshit, even though the basic facts of the case are true.

First of all, let's get the dipshit stuff out of the way.  Is there anything wrong with adorning a classroom with decorations that recognize the various holiday celebrations practiced in our own country and around the world?  It is after all a place of learning... making it an ideal place to, oh I don't know, learn about other holidays this time of year?

Obviously, there's nothing wrong with that.  What about the "Christmas Witch"?  Turns out that is a common Christian belief in Italy (you know, Italy, where the Vatican is?)  What's her story?  According to legend, she met up with the three wise men who were on their way to see Jesus, and declined to join them.  Then later she changed her mind but could not find the place where Jesus was born.  So now she wanders the world looking for baby Jesus, and giving presents to all the good little boys and girls because you never know which one might be Jesus.  Oh yeah, and her name isn't "labafana" oh great researcher who wrote the AFA article, it's Befana or "La Befana".  You can learn more about this wholesome Christmas character at Our Little Italy, and wikipedia has some info too.

Okay, so obviously there's nothing wrong with any of that.  And the AFA is afraid of new ideas, there's a big surprise.  That aside, what about the rewriting of the Christmas carols?  Check it out:

From the article War on Christmas Fraud Exposed: The Silent Night "Rewrite" That Wasn't (ThinkProgress.org):

...During a Dec. 10 appearance on Fox News, Mathew Staver of the Liberty Counsel said the presentation at Ridgewood Elementary had "no balance here. They have no Christian Christmas carols." He even threatened to sue the school:

People are outraged. We sent a demand letter asking them to immediately change the song and allow the actual lyrics of "Silent Night," and if they do not, if they insist on this ridiculous course of action, we'll file a federal lawsuit.

As it turns out, the entire story is a fraud.

Ridgewood Elementary didn't change the lyrics to "Silent Night." What they did was perform a 1988 copyrighted play called "The Little Tree's Christmas Gift."

That play actually contains numerous songs about Christmas, including the grand finale, an audience-led group singing of "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." The play's creator, Dwight Elrich, happens to lead the New Covenant Singers of Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

In fact, "The Little Tree's Christmas Gift" has been performed in several churches, including the Oakwood Forest Christian Church in Kingsport, Tennessee, the St. Anthony Parish School in Des Moines, Iowa, and St. Mark's Episcopal Church of Abeline, Texas.

So why are the Silent Night lyrics changed in "Little Tree's Christmas"? Because the play is about a small, lonely Christmas tree that is told it is "too scraggly, it will never sell." That character sings the revised lyrics — "Cold in the night, No one in sight, Winter winds whirl and bite" — in a scene lamenting his sad state. The rewording has absolutely nothing to do with "secularizing" the song...

Here's a link describing The Little Tree's Christmas Gift for educators looking to put on Christmas productions.  The play contains some ballads and pieces that are set to the tunes of well known Christmas carols.

Once again the right-wing is too busy being outraged to let the fact that they are full of shit get in the way.  At least at the time of this writing, the AFA continues to offer the above article on it's website.  Why?  I'd wager that anything that flares up Christian fervor is considered to be a good thing by right wingers.  Whether or not it is factual is irrelevant.  Right wingers continue to perpetuate this fraud.

In the end, the school has caved from the national fervor and has agreed to have the students sing "Silent Night" to make everybody happy.  Staver, of the Liberty Counsel, finally clued in by somebody that he didn't know what he was talking about, desperately tried to indicate there was still an anti-Christian agenda at the school.

From the article School Won't Leave Out Christmas (CitizenLink at Family.org):

..."No person here changed the words to 'Silent Night,'" [Dodgeville County district administrator Diane Messer] said.

Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, countered that while the school may not have expressly done a rewrite, it did select the program with the altered lyrics.

"We are pleased that the children at Ridgeway Elementary School will not be singing 'Cold in the Night,' " he said. "Christmas is a state and federal holiday. We don't change the names of any other federal holiday, nor do we change the words to songs commemorating these holidays."

So to everyone with a brain in their heads, the people who continue to blather on about the war on Christmas look increasingly like morons with each bit of twaddle they spew.

There is no war on Christmas.  Stop playing the victim.  America is 80% Christian and somehow Christians are the victims?  Spare me.  (Note: no disrespect intended toward any Christians, most of the Christians I know think the "War on Christmas" is poppycock.)  Peace.