Franklin

Yeah, good to see you post here again - please do so again, and more often! Miss you.

I'm part of the "backlash" now ... when someone says "Happy Holidays" to me I reply, "Happy Christmas" ... the ACLU has gone too far, they have lost my support. Probably over 80% of folks are being held ransom by less than 5% of the population ... I heard that the Red Cross has asked folks back in the UK to drop "Christmas" ... well, that's the last time I donate any money to Red Cross ... I gave them a couple of hundred dollars a while ago, no more from me. Vote with my feet. Any company that uses "Happy Christmas" gets my business ... Kmart have been using "Happy Christmas" ... I wrote to Target telling them I will not be shopping at Target again, they are so anti-Christmas I will never shop there ever again. Just me, but I hate being dictated too by anyone, the "thought police" are here and their name is the ACLU.

Ray

This is the new greeting to be used ...Change the last paragraph to bunnies and eggs for Easter

Please accept without obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all
and a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2005, but with due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures or sects, and having regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or sexual preference of the wishee.
By accepting this greeting you are bound by these terms that:-

This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal

This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged

This greeting implies no promise by the wishor to actually implement any of the wishes

This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishor

This greeting is warranted to perform as may reasonably be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first

The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor

Any references in this greeting to “the Lord�, “Father Christmas�, “Our Saviour�, �Rudolph the red nosed reindeer� or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged

This greeting is made under English Law.

fatbrit

Well I did all my Xmas shopping at Target to support them for kicking the Sally Anne out! Seems they lose and few and win a few... Nothing personal against the charitable organization, just don't like having that red bucket swung in my face.

The ACLU might go a bit too far on occasion, but you do need something to balance out the crazy, religious right.

Franklin

I don't support the Salvation Army one iota, but banning them over Christmas was over the top. Like I said, I will never shop at Target ever again. I will find out who owns the chain.

Frankly, I will refrain from doing any business with any organization that seeks to belittle or undermine Christmas or do something negative over Christmastime. This year I am fed up to the back teeth at the massive attempts to undermine Christmas. The ACLU has set in train a series of legal maneuvers to destroy the fabric of society. If the ACLU wins, America values and traditions will be gone forever. I just wonder what will become of America if the ACLU has its way, I suspect we will all be bowing to something, and it will not be a voluntary bow. I suspect that any political party that pays lip service to the ACLU will suffer at the ballot box. There is now a big backlash; ordinary punters like me are now primed to vote against the ACLU mentality and any party who supports that alien thought police mentality.

fatbrit

The CRAZY, RELIGIOUS RIGHT has set in train a series of legal maneuvers to destroy the fabric of society. If the CRAZY, RELIGIOUS RIGHT wins, America values and traditions will be gone forever. I just wonder what will become of America if the CRAZY, RELIGIOUS RIGHT has its way, I suspect we will all be bowing to something, and it will not be a voluntary bow. I suspect that any political party that pays lip service to the CRAZY, RELIGIOUS RIGHT will suffer at the ballot box. There is now a big backlash; ordinary punters like me are now primed to vote against the CRAZY, RELIGIOUS RIGHT mentality and any party who supports that alien thought police mentality.

Seems to work equally well!

fatbrit

They seem to be managing without you!

Franklin

Let me first respond with a Merry Christmas!

The ACLU has made a tactical and strategic error, they don't have to protect us against the religious far right, that job belongs to the Constitution, not the ACLU.

I never thought about this issue until this Christmas when the efforts by the ACLU and its partners to undermine Christmas grew quite loud. I don't give a dam about the religious right; I don't believe they will ever have a controlling influence in destroying traditions like Christmas. Now if the religious far right sought to destroy Christmas like the ACLU then I would have an issue with the religious far right, but as far as I can tell the religious far right is not objecting to Christmas or Christmas carols or the use of the term "Happy Christmas".

The ACLU and its kith and kin have decided to undermine Christmas and other great traditions. This I don't understand or like. So since around December '04 I am now part of the backlash. I will vote against any party that gives lip service to the ACLU ... I suspect this will be a major issue at the next election and I suspect 80% of the population will vote against any party that supports the ACLU and its drive to outlaw traditions like Christmas. I once supported the ACLU, but since its drive to outlaw Christmas and other traditions I no longer support the ACLU.

Politics, imho, have moved away from policy and are now into the culture wars. I don't understand or relate to the ACLU's recent undermining efforts and their growing propensity to use intimidation against the majority. The majority will backlash and I guess I am now part of that backlash. I believe in a lot of the Democratic party values and aspirations, I am a great admirer of Howard Dean, I wished he beat out Kerry, at least we knew what Dean stood for. But now the ACLU has reared an ugly head, it has decided to become the "thought police" and that scares me and I don't like it. I don't like being intimidated into saying "Happy Holidays"; I will rebel against that. Now I will vote against any party who gives lip service to the ACLU, the Democratic Party had better distance itself from the ACLU or the party will bleed and will once again lose the election. Sorry, but that is the truth. The ACLU has crossed the line into intimidation and thought control; I don't like Orwellian tactics and will refuse to cooperate.
Merry Christmas!

lairdside

Chris , I mailed this to you but here is the link for everyone else.

http://www.crosswalk.com/news/weblog...8/2003#1236758

I found it entertaining.

Franklin

Thanks Victoria, I read it. It's an interesting read. I have emailed you my thoughts on the article ... back to the coal face ... for another 10 minute stint!

Velouria

for fear of not sticking to the original thread subject - have you been in a uk post office at lunch time recently? its a nightmare to get anything done in the hour for lunch you have. maybe this could be true of all post offices at lunch times!

lairdside

Not in MY Post Office THANK YOU!!! ...lol

The dircective for USPS post offices is that the wait time should be no more than 5 minutes for service, I can only recall our failing to meet that target once and that was by 30 seconds.

Velouria

ok im moving to where you are!!!

lairdside

Coming west huh?

How much snow have you guys got atm? It should be a powder day here tomorrow but I......

HAVE TO WORK .....

Ah well. Wait until all the bloody tourists have gone home anyway I have a friend who has promised to teach me to snowboard. Then I'm off to Valdez in March (dunno if I wil be able to ride well enough to cope up there but my skiing is ok ).

Franklin

In the UK I tended to frequent post-offices that were staffed by self-employed people. I often went to a village post-office in my village near Bath, there were two windows staffed by two workers who did not work for the post office. They were not paid by the UK PO so I guess what they earned depended largely on how much service they sold to Joe public like me. There was but a short wait and much background village gossip, but not to the staff serving you, they would say "NEXT!" The line was never long, I guess they wanted the business!

As far as the Federal PO goes I will bow to Lairdside's expertise. Lairdside works for the Federal PO! But the PO near my home is the pits (I go elsewhere now) ... 30 minutes was a short time to wait! They are so far off the map on wait times you need to take a bog roll with you in case nature comes calling.

Velouria

we drove through nevada to get to california then back again up to calgary

a fair amount of snow here... unsuccessfully tried to drive up a hill today, but although the wheels were turning, i was going nowhere (fast too!) enough for toboganning im told!

dont talk to me about work - i worked a 12 hour shift on boxing day :/