>> ^osama1234:
Moral of the story: Bury your dead loved ones.
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Seems like a waste of real-estate property to me.

>> ^Deano:
One for all of those who think there shouldn't be stupid ornaments on top of the tv.


I hear ya, man.

>> ^Xax:
I don't really get disliking Christmas music. Unless your dog died on Christmas when you were 8 or something.


It's not only that we don't like Christmas music, because the vast majority of it is just so terrible, but that you can't escape it. Where I live there are several radio stations that play NOTHING but Christmas music from All Saints Day through New Years Eve. Within the first 40 minutes they've played every even mildly tolerable song. The radio though I don't care so much about because I simply don't listen to it, but you can't go into a single store without being assaulted by Christmas muzak, Salvation Army bell ringers (FUCKING STOP RINGING THAT GODDAMNNED BELL!!!!), and dancing Santas playing a lousy rendition of "Rockin around the Christmas tree" through a tinny shitty little speaker in their base.

BAH! Humbug!

>> ^dgandhi:
My take is that no democracy should allow the banning of specific religious symbols, banning all religiously themed towers(steeples,minarets,christmas trees > 5m), sure, only Muslim ones, not good.
We have fallen too far into the belief that democracy = right, which is plainly false. Sometimes, even often, democracy is wrong, that's why we have constitutional democracies, to protect minorities, and limit the destructive force of mob rule. It clearly didn't work here.


Couldn't have said it better.

On the one hand, we all talk about how stupid people in the world are...

On the other hand, we place so much faith in "the people."

>> ^dgandhi:
My take is that no democracy should allow the banning of specific religious symbols, banning all religiously themed towers(steeples,minarets,christmas trees > 5m), sure, only Muslim ones, not good.
We have fallen too far into the belief that democracy = right, which is plainly false. Sometimes, even often, democracy is wrong, that's why we have constitutional democracies, to protect minorities, and limit the destructive force of mob rule. It clearly didn't work here.


This is something I have conflicting opinions about. In principle, I think people should be able to live exactly as they please - racists shouldn't be forced to live with people they don't want to live with, for example. Unrestricted democracy is great, provided you also have complete freedom of association. Unfortunately the reality for most of us is that you're born into a society so large that you can't possibly expect to agree with everyone even on the most fundamental of principles. And you can't expect to fix that by moving elsewhere, either, since pretty much all societies are too large to allow for a large degree of individual autonomy. You don't get to choose the people you share a society with, which is, in my opinion, the real problem.

My take is that no democracy should allow the banning of specific religious symbols, banning all religiously themed towers(steeples,minarets,christmas trees > 5m), sure, only Muslim ones, not good.

We have fallen too far into the belief that democracy = right, which is plainly false. Sometimes, even often, democracy is wrong, that's why we have constitutional democracies, to protect minorities, and limit the destructive force of mob rule. It clearly didn't work here.

Here's Rush Limbaugh's contribution to our earth:

“I have the ability from my couch, wherever I happen to be, I can turn on every light in the place, on all five houses. I can turn on the air conditioner and I can regulate the air conditioner. So I lit my place up like a Christmas tree last night.

“At 8:30 on Saturday night, I’m going to do the same thing. I mean, I might even put a Christmas tree up! I might even put Christmas lights on the outside lights, on the outside landscaping. I mean, I’m going to go just the opposite way, because I, El Rushbo — as you know — resist the tug of popular sentiment.”

Actually Arabs are descended from nomads and relatively non-religious tribal groups. The Islamic tradition in the Arabic world is quite new compared to the total history of their culture. Much like Christians still have Christmas Trees, Easter bunnies and celebrate Halloween, it can be very difficult to completely supplant traditional behaviour simply with a pure religious doctrine. There are many Arab traditions that have been accepted into Muslim culture and vice versa.

ya I had an art teacher in Jr High that was like this. Every Halloween she'd go on and on about how its a devil this or a Satan that. Every time she did I'd always ask her if she put up a Christmas tree on Christmas........of course she would say yes and I would just laugh and laugh and laugh

Thanks for the promote Krupo

In reply to this comment by Krupo:
*promote spinny *music!

I swore I responded to this, but I did it on my cell phone and that doesn't work all that well sooo...

Yes, I had a wonderful Xmas and enjoyed playing with all the ribbon and paper and with the Christmas tree. I got sorta sick from drinking the water out of the tree-stand, but I couldn't help myself it was so yummy.

I hope that you and DFT and Timmy and Isobel had a wonderful holiday and have an even better new year!

In reply to this comment by Issykitty:
I love my cat-bro! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season. Mrow!

a myth isn't a lie. You could say that every movie is a lie, every story in a book is a lie. Do you do that? No. If it is a lie it a special kind of lie - the lies we HAVE to tell our selves in order to live.

The person who thinks he doesn't tell himself any liss is the one bonkers.
Society must have it's illusions. The relationship of illusion to our mind is like air to our bodies, utterly necessary yet so obvious people forget it's there.



The Cultivation of Christmas Trees

There are several attitudes towards Christmas,
Some of which we may disregard:
The social, the torpid, the patently commercial,
The rowdy (the pubs being open till midnight),
And the childish - which is not that of the child
For whom the candle is a star, and the gilded angel
Spreading its wings at the summit of the tree
Is not only a decoration, but an angel.
...


-T.S.Eliot, 1954

At first I thought it was an advertisement for avoidance of carpal tunnel syndrome.

But it was very well executed. Now, I'm off to water my snow-covered lawn, buy a Christmas tree that my three-year-old can climb and eat, and see if I can resurrect my half-melted credit cards.

Not so long ago, people were putting REAL candle lights in their Christmas tree! They must have been very skilled at handling fire in those days.

The cops wouldn't have taken their time or effort if they didn't think there was weed in there house. Don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure that seeing a set-up like that was reason enough to justify a warrant on "probable cause."

In reply to this comment by nibiyabi:
MGR, you can't be serious. They put fucking Christmas trees under halogen lights in an empty house. The cops are the ones who wasted taxpayer money by breaking the law.

In reply to this comment by MarineGunrock:
I'll tell you what's terrible :

Wasting a local police department's time and money for a fucking tv show. Whether or not the cops were wrong - I don't care. But don't waste tax payer money for your fucking show.