Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

by Nomad

 

 

Santa's Third Category

by Nomad

Seasons Greetings - 2020

by Nomad

Here's wishing you all a wonderful holiday season. There's no denying that this has been a hellish sort of year and I, for one, am glad it is coming to a close. We are still facing a few more grim months ahead of us before things settle down. My Christmas wish for all my friends in the community is that you stay healthy and stay positive and that you will be able to find joy and happiness amid these troubled times. 

If You Think Your Religious Liberties Are Being Violated, Think Again

by Nomad

Freedom of religion is a fundamental principle of the United States. However, there seems to be a lot of intentional and unintentional confusion about what is a violation of religious liberties. Here's a helpful guide. 

(this guide wa produced by The Rev. Emily C. Heath is a United Church of Christ (UCC) minister.) 

The Compassionate Mob: When Anonymous Crowds Do Great Things

by Nomad

After reading the Laney Christmas story (h/t to zane), I admit I got a tad weepy- but in a good way. Yes yes, it's true: beneath this rhino-skin lies a sensitive jellyfish. 

Despite so much evidence to the contrary, I, like Anne Frank, want to have faith in the goodness of people. Yeah, I want to believe that people are good.

So sue me. I was born this way.

Strangers on a Subway

Last July, another story in the same vein went practically unnoticed.

When a woman slipped between a train and a station platform just north of Tokyo on Monday, about 40 commuters and railroad employees worked together to tilt the 32-ton subway car enough to one side so that she could be pulled to safety.

The Associated Press writes that the train car's suspension system "allows it to lean to either side, according to the Yomiuri newspaper, Japan's largest daily." The woman was not seriously injured and, the AP adds, "after just an eight-minute delay, the train went on its way."

There's no real reason why this story should have attracted very much attention, I suppose. 
Things like this happen all the time but they hardly ever get much airtime or ink. News networks, like CNN, generally prefer enthusiastic spokespeople and charismatic leaders to interview to help them package things up neatly.

This was another spontaneous act of a compassionate but faceless crowd. The empathetic mob, if you will. Such stories are, to use a cliche, heart-warming. Common at Christmas time. 

With so much evidence of our greedy, perfidious,  violent or  destructive urges, stories like these make us feel happy again to be a human. 

So it's worth taking a closer look I think.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Here are some fun pictures of Santa Claus that I thought you might enjoy. 

Warmest Wishes from Nomad

Clearly Nancy didn’t  think  Santa was limited to  one color.	Contrary to  popular belief, Santa Claus is no  couch potato!

The image of Santa has changed  over the years, as this photo  from the 1890s shows.	But seriously, would you trust your child  with a Santa that  looks like this ? Even the donkey looks terrified.

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Update:

Found this video for you all. 

It broke my heart to hear one man say that this humble back pack was the best gift he had ever gotten and this was the best day he had ever had. 

The Truth Behind Palin's Soon-to-Be Released Book on Christmas

by Nomad

Decries the commercialization of Christmas
by peddling her book just in time for the holidays 

Rumor has it that Sarah Palin has another book in the works. Hurrah! According to USAToday, the book is "focused on putting faith and values back into Christmas."

The book, reportedly entitled "A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas", is supposed to come out in November, right in time for the holidays. All carefully calculated to be a "hot" seller during the holiday season. (And who wouldn't want the a Sarah Palin book as a Christmas gift?)

No doubt Sarah hopes the book will be a money-maker for her. The timing of the release is wonderfully ironic. According to the publisher the book, a well-beaten dead horse if ever there was one, will deal with the commercialization of Christmas. Ho-humbug.

We can be assured it will take to task all those baddies who don't share her view that America is a Christian nation. No doubt the book will list every perceived offense, such as endangered nativity scenes on public property, etc. etc..  Anybody of you who dare to use the term "happy holidays" had better run for cover. Having failed in taking back America, Palin is now apparently planning to take back Christmas. 

In typical Palin-speak, Palin issued this statement through her publisher, HarperCollins.

"Amidst the fragility of this politically correct era, it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored."

Fragility? How is a politically-correct era fragile? Could she have meant frigidity?  

She said the book will be "fun, festive" and "thought provoking." It will "encourage all to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our faith and ignore the politically correct Scrooges who would rather take Christ out of Christmas."

It's hard to imagine what she means by a politically-correct Scrooge. (Scrooge always sounded like a conservative to me.) But then it's generally hard to imagine what she means whenever she speaks. We will deal with the last part of her statement (Christ out of Christmas) in a moment.