'Tis the Season for Resistmas

Women to Look Up To, a London based company, is producing some eye catching tree toppers in an effort to give tree toppers a feminist makeover.  Among the choices of real women their voters deemed "worthy of wings" for their 3D printed ornaments is Hillary Clinton. 

As a puckish political animal living in the District of Calamity whose W.C. is a Political Room adored with cheeky tchochtki, a Hillary tree topper might be welcomed for the Federal Christmas Tree.  However, this tree topper costs eighty quid, which can tot up to $120.    If I were inclined to air grievances between the beltways, it would be more economical to erect an aluminum pole for Festivus.

Henry Longfellow on the Bells of Christmas Day

           

I heard the bells on Christmas Day

Their old familiar carols play,

And wild and sweet

The words repeat

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come

The belfries of all Christendom

Had rolled along

The unbroken song

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,

The world revolved from night to day,

A voice, a chime,

A chant sublime

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth

The cannon thundered in the South,

And with the sound

The carols drowned

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent

The hearth-stones of a continent,

And made forlorn

The households born

Of peace on earth, good will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;

"There is no peace on earth," I said;

"For hate is strong

And mocks the song

Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep.

"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!

The wrong shall fail,

The right prevail,

With peace on earth, good will to men!"

Good Grief! School Censors Linus Van Pelt's Meaning of Christmas Part to Be Politically Correct

The kids at W.B. Castle Elementary School in Wittensville, Kentucky was slated to perform a Charlie Brown Christmas as part of their Christmas were slated to perform a Charlie Brown Christmas as part of their Christmas Pageant.  But Johnson County School Superintendent Thomas Salyer issued a memo which directed schools to avoid endorsing an particular religion in their holiday performances.  

While Superintendent Salyer would permit Christmas plays, the public official delineated the acceptable civil credo:  “The U.S. Supreme Court and the 6th Circuit are official capacities and during school activities. However, our district is fully committed to promote the spirit of giving and concern for our fellow citizens that help define the Christmas holidays.”

In short, this meant that W.B. Castle Elementary School Principal Jeff Cochran the Linus Van Pelt monologue which recites Luke 2:8-14 which reveals the true meaning of Christmas. 

Parents would not take the Christmas censorship sitting down.  There were a few days of protest at the Johnson County (KY) Schools Headquarters in Paintsville.  Glenn Beck  blasted  the District's decision to censor A Charlie Brown Christmas on his national radio show. Beck suggested:

I would get together with parents and I would — if I knew this was coming — take the script of what Linus actually says and I would stand up as a block of parents and just stop the show and just all of us at that point, ‘Doesn’t anybody know what Christmas is all about?’ And all of the parents stand up and just start saying it, even as the play is going on.

In fact, some in the crowd did just that, reciting the Lukian nativity narrative at the climax of the childrens' play. Principal Jeff Conrad lamented: "[T]here were a few more lines in the play, and that was the end of it. I wish that they had let the kids do the play.”   So for Cochran, it seems the pageant was just a Kodak moment for proud parents watching their tykes get dressed up and perform and damn the content or the reason for the season.

Is it any wonder that America is being culturally hollowed out?  Americans seem to appreciate the trappings of Christmas but are discouraged from sharing the true meaning of the Yuletide cheer in public and schools had better not expose their wards  to learning least they be considered less inclusive. 

This year marked the 50 anniversary of the first broadcast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas". The story touches on over-commercialization and the secularization of Christmas. Ironically, the school district's censorship of the key passage underscores the contemporary relevance of the cultural icon. 

It was controversial, even in the mid 1960s to have a religiously themed Christmas television special. Producer Bill Mendelson was worried about quoting scripture in the script.  But Mendelson recalled: 

The first thing Schulz had said was, "If we can talk about what I feel is the true meaning of Christmas, based on my Midwest background' — he was a real student of the Bible — 'It would really be worth doing.' If we hadn't gone that way, we wouldn't have done the show.”

So it is gratifying that the Kentucky parents honored the true meaning of Christmas by telling about the miracle of the Incarnation, despite derision and official obstacles. 

Recalling Christmas Eve At the Moon

 Three NASA astronauts circled the Moon in December 1968 on a mission to prepare for the first human landing on the Moon the next year.  .




When transmitting to Mission Control in Houston, Frank Borman and the crew of Apollo 8  gave a Christmas Eve prayer which might scandalize avowed atheists or today's adherents to the creed of political correctness.

How The Donald Trump May Ruin Christmas for America

Considering the crude back and forth between "The Donald" demanding an apology from she who will be coronated First Lady/Senator/Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Rick Wilson's predictions seems right on the mark. 

Opponents of Donald Trump are also using the Yuletide season as a time to score points against the current national Republican front-runner.

But as P.T. Barnum is supposed to have said: "I don't care what you say about me, but just spell my name right." 

h/t: College Humor 

The Story of NORAD and the Santa Tracker

A family tradition in my youth was worshiping at a Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve and driving around nearby neighborhoods with wonderful holiday light displays while listening for NORAD reports on Santa Claus' whereabouts.  As a jaded grown-up, I presumed that these reports were performance shtick on a long media night.  Little did I know that the reports were real and that a typo and the good cheer of an Air Force colonel brought joy to the world.

During the 1950s, America was engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union which threatened to become hot at any moment. School children of the era was raised to be prepared to duck and cover at any given moment due to a sneak nuclear attack from the enemy.  Soon, Sputnik's successful launch made watching the skies even more important.

In Colorado Springs,Colorado at  the Continental Air Defense Command    a.k.a. CONAD (the predecessor to the North American Aerospace Defense Command or NORAD), there was a red telephone on the commander's desk which had a secret telephone number known only by a four star General at the Pentagon, which would have been used to convey news of an enemy aerial attack.

However, in December 1955, the CONAD commander's red phone rang and the voice on the other line was a little voice which asked "Is this really Santa Claus?".  At first the Colonel was upset at what he thought was a crank call, but when he heard crying, the straight laced Colonel changed his demeanor.  The CONAD commander ho-ho-hoed and asked the caller if he had been a good boy.  Afterwards, the Santa Colonel asked to speak to his mother.

It seems that a copy for a Sears Roebuck newspaper ad had a misprint, so "Santa's private phone" number not connecting to Toyland but was actually the secret military number for what is now NORAD. Colonel Shoup delegated a few airman to act like Santa Claus for kiddie red phone callers.

Col. Shoup's daughter,  Terri Van Keuren, recounted: "It got to be a big joke at the command center. You know, 'The old man's really flipped his lid this time. We're answering Santa calls".  So much so, on Christmas Eve 1955, airmen modified the big glass board used to track air flights and included a drawing of a sleigh and eight reindeer coming from the North Pole.

When Col. Shoup saw this modified big board, he exclaimed: "What is this?".  His subordinates apologized and insisted that they were just making a a joke.  Shoup pondered the predicament for a bit and then telephoned a radio station with the message: "This is the Commander at the Combat Air Center, and we have an unidentified flying object.  Why, it looks like a sled.".  Hence the tradition began.

Now kids can call 1-877 HI-NORAD (1-877-446-6723) to talk to NORAD staff about Santa's exact location.  The internet tracker for the big man in red began in 1998 with the SantaCam.  At noradsanta.org, people can view the SantaCams from around the world as well as understand NORAD's main mission. Last year, "Operation Feel" had F-18 fighter jets escorting Santa and his sleigh, which led CNN reporters questioning if the US military had taken possession of Santa Claus.  Of course, these reporters failed to report on "Operation Noble Eagle" with the Royal Canadian Air Force escorts over their territory or how these videos infuse some of NORAD's primary mission to girls and boys along with the spirit of the season.






Colonel Shoup died in 2009.  But even in his 90s, Shoup proudly carried a briefcase which he treated like had top secret information that contained letters thanking him for having a good sense of humor in allowing NORAD to track Santa.



h/t: NPR
      NORADSanta.org 

Santa in Fatigues?

While speaking at Joint Base Mc Guire- Fort Dix in New Jersey, President Obama compared the military to being like "Santa in fatigues".

The stone silence from the assembled troops was not the desired response, the Commander-in-Chief ad libbed to mention C-130s to get an applause line.

Maybe Old Saint Nick can bring a new teleprompter to put under the Christmas tree to make it Mele Kalikimaka for someone special in Kailua. Or maybe after returning to the White House after his 17 day Christmas vacation, there can be more mature speechwriters.  

General George S. Patton on Christmas

Woody Allen on Knowledge

Creche Selfies of the Chosen One?

There are a couple of things amiss with this satirical seasonal selfie.

First of call, who is in the manger at this Creche?  Someone should educate the Obama drummer boy.

Moreover, where are the Wise Men?  It certainly seems as if the Wise Men have left the District of Calamity (sic). 

And of course the parody picture begs the question about focusing on the center of attention.  But when someone is constantly proclaimed "the Chosen One", drawing attention to oneself is all together too common. 

Benjamin Franklin on Christmas

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A TSA X-MAS

Fun as along with way as we fly to Grandmother's house we go. But what about Santa?

h/t: Gary Markestein
     Reason.tv

"Winter Festival" Wackiness

For scores of years, there have been a squabble amongst secularists to prevent communities from celebrating the Federal holiday of Christmas on public property.  Religious references have been minimized to a holiday tree, Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  School systems have abolished the Christmas vacation in lieu of the "Winter Break".  If these anti-traditional forces had their druthers, perhaps even public mentioning of Christmas would be prohibited and we would simply celebrate the "Winter Festival".

To try to accommodate all beliefs, some municipalities have tried to incorporate symbols of many faith systems during the holiday season.  So it was not uncommon to see a Chanukah menorah, later a Muslim Crescent and in some places displays celebrating the holiday for atheists (sic).  Alas, in Santa Monica, California, their half century tradition of holiday displays became too cumbersome due to political correctness, so it was abolished on public space.  But Santa Monica churches found a loophole  which allows for live displays. So now both Christians and atheist displays are permitted, as long as there is a live person. Time will tell how man convicted atheists will commit to manning their displays. 

Since 'tis the season to be jolly, while embracing politically correct celebrations of the "Winter Festival" (a.k.a. Christmas or the Feast of the Incarnation), it is time for a rousing chorus of "Have a RamaHanaKwanzMas!

Jay Leno on Christmas Displays