Avenger Wrote:
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> And so where have you been getting your news.

Like you, I get most of my news from my local newspaper and, on occasion, the local right-wing rag. I supplement it with the New York Times, NPR, AOL, Yahoo and various professional and hobby publications.
>
> For a while there, allies of those smitty
> mentioned, as well as much of the mainstream
> media, were IN FACT refusing to mention the word
> "Christmas" at all, claiming that the word
> "offended" those who were not Christian. Btw, my
> Jewish neighbor says it offends no one of his
> faith when Christmas is openly displayed.
>
> But when private businesses started using the
> politically correct and generic "Happy Holidays",
> people started voting with there feet - against
> all this PC nonsense. And that did get a lot of
> media attention. It was all over the news last
> year - all networks, all news stations ran stories
> about it. - Where were you!

I'm very aware of the controversy and feel its way overblown. Many people continue to wish me "Merry Christmas" even though I am Jewish. Last week, I placed a mail order with a hobby shop and the clerk who took my order said "Merry Christmas" and I attended jazz musician David Beniot's tribute to Charlie Brown's Christmas. All over the place I see Christmas decorations. Stores, restaurants and radio stations play Christmas carols. But most importantly, there is no prohibition of religious expression in homes and houses of worship.

As an aside, I remember when the major complaint was that Christmas was overcommercialized. But now it seems that many are looking for businesses to validate their key holiday.

>
> It blew over mostly - but apparently not in a lot
> of government offices, like mine. We are still
> not allowed to put up any decorations that
> reference Christmas specifically, nor are we
> supposed to use the word - "it might offend
> someone".

I work in a government office too and we have never been given that direction. On the contrary, one of my coworkers invited everyone in my section to an after work Christmas Party.
>
> Well, this abridgment of free speech offends me.
> But these same hypocrites don't seem to mind
> offending Christians - I wonder what that's about;
> nor do they mind offending guys like me who just
> want to call things what they really are. That
> Amtrak has completely ignored the self-appointed
> censors is great news - in this land of the free.

On one long-distance Amtrak trip, I complained to the attendant about the temperature of the cars. He responded by attempting to proselytize which is grossly inappropriate. I don’t go up to people to try to convince them to convert to Judaism and feel that others should respect my rights and not try to convert me to their religion. More recently, I allowed a guy (who told me he once was involved in making pornography!) about ½ hour to try to proselytize me and when I didn’t agree with him, he told me that I’d burn in hell. With free speech rights comes responsibilities to respect others which he did not do.

Moreover, there are Christian radio stations all over the US whereas in most of the US, one cannot hear broadcasts of other faiths. So even if you and others cannot say Merry Christmas in your work place, you have plenty of other outlets for religious expression some of which are not available to persons of other faiths.

>
> While you may bristle at painting the President
> with this brush, Smitty does have a point. Facts
> are; he (Obama) is allied with a great many who
> ARE openly anti-Christian, and since some of
> Obama's own words during the campaign did sound
> very anti-religious also, I presume that he
> spilled this paint on his own self. So go complain
> to him.
>
Sorry, I heard a different Obama who during the campaign was not anti-religious at all. During the inauguration, he had Rick Warren, Christian author of “A Purpose Driven Life.” I think the last truly non-religious presidential candidate was Morris Udall in 1976. There were many religious people who supported Obama's candidacy, too.