And Revyloution, I would SO make my kid be the human remote control if they took it apart, LOL!

Man, I got tired running back and forth when the family wanted the channel changed.

Beautiful. So I’m not the only parent that strives to make the punishment fit the crime?

Wick, doesn’t mean we have to cater to nutballs who feed into the Rush Limbaughs of the Right. No one’s trying to obliterate Christmas no matter how anyone boo hoo’s about keeping Christ the fuck out of it and, no, they don’t have the right to stamp their little bratty feet and demand the world cowtow to them. Fuck them.

Look I’m not kissing their ass. Not even I have asked to censor my beloved “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” when Linus goes on his eye-rolling recitation. Don’t like it, don’t tune it. Like the rest enough to overlook that bit myself. Besides I just find it realistic. Ask any group of grade school kids what’s the real meaning of Christmas and at least one kid’s gonna make a production like that.

But these Christians who claim — that’s right claim — they’re being persecuted because we ask that the government not endorse it or because some popular store is trying to be all inclusive are assholes, plain and simple. Are they even willing to admit they are in a majority (making it rather tough for them to be actually persecuted) and have more influence over the laws of this land than anyone else. These little whiny brats don’t know the meaning of being persecuted, not even in the sense of being made social outcasts no matter what they imagine in their self-centered, self-entitled to owning the world little heads.

Miko, don’t get me started. Science is now being equated with religion for billing? By your argument, I guess it’s okay for little kids to die for the sake of religion and not just the ones with the religuous nutters for parents that don’t seek medical care. My grandson, since he’s on Medicaid, should have been killed off by his food allergies and asthma by now, I guess. I shouldn’t have given him a bite of that omelet that exposed his allergy to eggs since I didn’t have cash in hand to cover the ER visit even though I had no way of knowing he was allergic to eggs.

Muggle, Michelle didn’t say obliterate religion, she said “remove all things religious from society” which is not the same thing. She even said it twice.
And if you don’t think christians feel threatened, you need to open your eyes. Every xmas there’s an ad campaign to make people say “Christmas” [sic] instead of Happy Holidays, etc. My cuckoo religious friends (I do have a couple) are always rallying around some issue or other when it involves the removal of a cross or a nativity scene somewhere in the world (just recently it was the satanic Home Depot, if anyone remembers that little holy war). They TRULY BELIEVE they are being persecuted. So Michelle has it absolutely right here (and Michelle, your parents were indeed very wise people).

How about Alan Turing’s birthday on june 23rd ?

That’s right around the summer solstice and Midsummer, even. (So how do you guys feel about folk music, silly dances and maypoles?)

I’m not saying that we’ll get them to say “My goodness, you’ve convinced me! I’ll vote against religious privilege in health care!”

Or that we should want this to happen. Religious people pay taxes too, so it’d be unethical to cover scientific treatments that they may not want and exclude faith-based mumbo jumbo that they want instead. The fact that ours work and theirs don’t is irrelevant to the issue; if they’re paying for it, they should be able to decide what they want to buy. (And this is, in a nutshell, why government should have absolutely nothing to do with health care or pretty much anything else: all it can do is shuffle money around and restrict people’s freedom in the process; we’d all be much better off if they left us alone to make decisions for ourselves.)

We can’t agree on anything

Perhaps we’re just too cerebral. Holidays are about eliciting an emotional response. We feel the need to tear it apart to examine why. And just like the TV remote I took apart when I was 7, somethings can’t be put back together.

Man, I got tired running back and forth when the family wanted the channel changed.

And Michelle, I see where you’re coming from. I too would like to see the dialogue move towards a more civil, mutually beneficial discourse, and get frustrated when persistent impositions and incessant mocking turn to dominate the debate. I have no desire to eliminate religion, and I sincerely hope that most who do are in fact aiming beyond their goal. Many have toned down that kind of talk in recent years, you may notice.

Michelle, are you crazy? Whose trying to obliterate religion? Remove it from the public square, yes. Obliterate it, no. And it’s definitely us who are on the defensive.

I suspect Dante above is right. And I’m all for another holiday. (Bah humbug, Peregrin, there’s no such thing as too many; they’re fun and that’s the only excuse I’ll make for celebrating life.)

March sometimes has Easter. I’d suggest February but that has Valentine’s Day. January New Year’s. Something in between the stretch from July 4th to Labor Day could work or how about just making Labor Day bigger? Pressure everyone to give tokens of appreciation to anyone who labors for them?

Alternatively, something in the horribly long stretch between Easter and July 4th?

He was an atheist, he was gay (and was convicted because of it) and saved many lives during WWII due to his contribution into breaking the Enigma machine.