Steve King (Rotten-Iowa) has our house of representatives pondering a resolution that states that Christmas is peachy-keen…and that also contains implicit assumptions that the US is a Christian nation. It's very devious: under the cover of empty, feel-good fluff, it advances right-wing religious talking points. It's sneaky. It's underhanded. It's dishonest. It's so Christian.
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ITS A TRAP!
Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;
Is American Christian a denomination now? Because plenty of American citizens who are of the Orthodox Christian variety celebrate Christmas during the first week of January.
I know, calendar discrepancies make wittle wingnut heads asplode...
Unrelated, but breaking news from your neighbours to the north:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071211.wdeadteen12…
It appears a Toronto-area father killed his daughter,and one of the factors may have been refusal to wear a hijab...police aren't releasing much detail yet.
I fear for your country, and for the whole world ...
You know what's fun? Replacing every instance of "Christian" in that bill with "white people".
Amusingly, King was stranded here in Iowa by our latest ice storm during the vote.
Christmas in January? That's unpossible!
Do you think that Rep. King has even heard of Orthodox Christians, much less know when they celebrate Christmas?
@everyone :
Do forgive me, but I didn't get the Admiral Ackbar reference...duh
A trap, indeed. If any of our representatives recognized the obvious ulterior motives of this resolution - and they won't, or at least they won't care - and voted against it, the fundies would go yelling about how there really is a War on Christmas and that Senator So-and-So hates Christmas and Christians.
These people disgust me.
But anyone else is fair game.
Actually, the Orthodox Christian angle might be a good one to use to derail the bill -- a clever representative could rally votes against it because it failed to include all Christians in the US. It would be very funny to see King try to rewrite the bill in a way that doesn't appear to discriminate against the Orthodox, since adding in the "Christmas in January" bit would make it too unwieldy and sap its rhetorical punch, and leaving out the Orthodox at this stage would be obvious prejudice.
Anyone know if there are any opponents in the House who could get this suggestion?
Tulse: Actually, my take is that they should amend the resolution to recognise Kwanzaa, as well. It'd be gone in no time.
American Christians..also not to be confused with those Saint-Worshipping South/Central American Christians
Steve King (Rotten - Iowa) makes me ashamed to be an Iowan.
Unconsitutional.
"Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;"
Don't some Christians claim Jesus is everyone's savior? This seems to be quite bigoted against those Christians, damned hate mongering Christians are going to make Mitt Romney cry.
By the way, we expatriated members of the Ukrainian Acephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) may celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December as a concession to the social convention of our adopted homeland, but everyone with a brain knows that True Christmas falls on January 7th.
Oh... wait...
does King hold Gopher's old seat? If so, that's the part of Iowa I just had to visit for grandma's funeral. His constituents are to be included as part of the crazification factor.
Did you mean "autocephalous", or did you really mean "headless"...?
Where the hell does this leave us Jews? While I can't say I am blessed with an excessive amount of Jewish religious knowledge, I can with almost complete assurance asseverate the Jesus Christ, and his power to save souls and redeem sin is given short shrift in Jewish theology. Even worse, we are guilty of rejecting unequivocally the above enumerated powers!
It's a wonder they don't kill us all!
Kseniya:
Sadly, I'm not sure it's possible for a nonbinding resolution to be held unconstitutional (though IANAL). Clearly, though, its consideration is a horror to anyone committed to the notion of a secular society. Or, for that matter, to anyone committed to the idea of equality and religious freedom for all.
Unfortunately, the only way to oppose this is for our reps to vote against Christmas... and last I heard, the Grinch Party doesn't hold any seats in the Congress. Personally, I value my representative's place in the Congress too much to even ask him to vote no.
[sigh]
I agree with the original post: "The bill is a trap for Democrats and should not be allowed to make it to the floor."
Well, it was a nice half-century while it lasted, eh Jews? What's next on the Republican agenda? A resolution stating that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are not a forgery after all?
New Republican motto: Jesus loves you and we love you. Specifically, we'd love you to get the hell out of our country, Darky.
Because the link above doesn't work, and because the page is rather long, I copy the relevant part:
How about a slight amendment to celebrate Dec. 25 as Family Day, as in Uruguay?
Careful Mooser: You're comin' a might close to persuhcyootin' Chrischuns with them there words, and soon enough that'll be agayunst the law.
Some people note that the Treaty of Tripoli says that the US is in no way a Christian nation, but do they bother to note that the US later went to Tripoli and them all? Hasn't anybody come to realize that the a lying treaty and subsequent military attack ARE very Christian things to do?
David, I really did mean "headless", and I'm not surprised that it was you who so quickly exposed the roots of my silly little joke. :-)
*killed them all
What a word to miss.
What I found particularly interesting is that in Europe we refused any reference to Christianity or Christian roots in the project of new constitution (as was being proposed by A.Merkel).
And now, in America, you are having this kind of proposals.
So, wouldn't it be funny if in the end, Europe refused to make reference to its Christian roots, but America did ?
Ack... no, not really. :-)
Bill Dauphin:
Well said, and I suppose you're right, but... Geez! Whatever happened to the idea of voting against something as a POSITIVE act? Voting FOR religious freedom, FOR the 1st Amendment, FOR secularism, FOR the notion that the goverment should never endorse a particular religion or sect? A vote against this resolution is a vote FOR all those things!
Part of me wants to rant about how people like King "just don't get it" but I fear they do. They do get it - all too well.
The pagans called............
They want their holiday back.
Of course it is... until election time, when it's...
[scary music][stentorian voiceover]
Democrat Joe Blow vote against [something soccer moms love]!
He voted against [something else soccer moms love]!
He voted against the troops!
Why, he even voted against CHRISTMAS!!
[image]Cindy-Lou Who looking sad![/image]
Don't let Joe Blow and the liberals get away with it: Send Biff Republican to Congress!
[/scary music][/stentorian voiceover]
[empty face with great hair]I'm Biff Republican, and I approved this message.[/empty face with great hair]
[really fast voice]Paid for by the Committee to Nuke the Heathen Back to the Stone Age, Barney Rubble, Treasurer[/really fast voice]
[sigh]
The sad thing is that Dems who don't vote no will get torched from the left. I worked hard to help elect my representative, and I didn't invest all that effort so he could be distracted by this sort of crappy little Catch-22!
I live in Iowa's 5th. That's my rep. Sigh. Just in case any Dem bigwigs read PZ's blog: Stop writing my district off as a loss and field a decent challenger for Christ's sake! That is all.
What would happen if a Dem started taking a more aggressive stance on this sort of bullshit? Why don't we hear a public announcement that lays it on thick about how underhanded this resolution is? Tell people in a loud clear voice all about how Steve King uses their religion to cause division in politics instead of working for his pay. Point out what a bad christian he is. Some of the honest christians might actually listen, and just a few votes lost could help discourage this kind of bullshit in the future.
Re: "Do forgive me, but I didn't get the Admiral Ackbar reference...duh"
>>Most likely: "It's a trap!"
"Move the fleet away from the Death Star"
"May the force be with us"
"We saw it. All craft prepare to retreat."
"All craft, prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark."
"The shield is down, commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor."
"We've got to give those fighters more time, concentrate all fire on that Super Star Destroyer"
"We have no choice General Calrissian! Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude!"
I think raising objections on behalf of Orthodox Christians is a great idea.
My Representative, Keith Ellison, is probably not the one to do it, however. . . .
Womp rats, Admiral Ackbar...I wonder if you were influenced by this review of The Golden Compass. In any case, you're old enough to enjoy this conglomeration of 80's pop culture. It only takes a few seconds.
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. sigh.
"Whereas Christians identify themselves as those who believe in . . ." sigh.
Whereas Rastafarians identify themselves as those who believe in-
Whereas Scientologists identify themselves as those who believe in-
Whereas Shakers identify themselves as those who believe in-
Whereas Proctologists identify themselves as those who believe in-
Whereas Collectors of Porcelain Pigs identify themselves as those who believe in-
Whereas Some Who Got The Notion That They Could Open The Correct Door identify themselves as those who believe-
Whereas Fools identify themselves as those who believe in-
Shall we then clothe them all in a custom fit law, measured and stitched by some grander tailor? And how shall we know him? And how much more burden to a body of law that is already larger than anyone can read in a lifetime?
I wish I had a nickel for every time I've been offended by someone else claiming to be offended by something I recognize as just an artifact of normal life. sigh.
Actually, there may be a great deal of opposition to this bill by some of the more educated denominations, i.e., ones where priests/vicars/pastors are required to know a little bit of theology before they are set loose on congregations. By defining what Christianity is, the bill implicitly describes what Christianity is not. In essence, this bill is introducing a new denomination, call it goverment issue Christianity, and denying the appelation "Christian" to any sect that has little clauses of its own.
It may be like the little bit of historical irony that had the Baptists supporting Jefferson because he would not allow government to intervene and dispense religious definitions.
If "American Christians" observe Christmas on Dec. 25, just who the hell were those people in a local discount store who started sale-a-brating Christmas before Halloween (and who aren't done yet!)?
Funny how it's "Judeo-Christian" this and "Judeo-Christian" that when they're trying to throw up a smokescreen over some odious shit they're trying to pull, right up until they start apportioning responsibility for starting western civilization and such, when suddenly it's just plain old "Christian" again. Hey, guys, you know those ten commandments you're always claiming as the inspiration for western civilization and civil society and mom's apple pie? Not written by a Christian. So you just go ahead and pat yourselves on the head and give yourselves a gold star, you hollow frauds. It doesn't make you right, and it doesn't make you good--it just makes you look like jackasses.
Good point, Sophist -- with all the aid thrown to Israel, you'd think Congress could also pony up for "and we like Hanukkah, too" clause.
Probably something like this.
Little known fact. Admiral Ackbar's first name is Allah.
Did I miss the memo? What's with all the Star Wars references today PZ?
That's it! The time for a war on Christmas is here! Rally the atheists and Jehovah's Witnesses' [they dont celebrate Christmas you know] and we shall attack! We shall fight them in the malls, we shall fight them in the churches, we shall fight them in Washington!
Screw it, I'm gonna go get a scotch and a beer.
Honestly, I think it would not be overreacting to have every rep who votes for this to be tried for treason and impeached for breaking his public office oath to protect the constitution.
Steve King (Rotten - Iowa) makes me ashamed to be an Iowan.
Steve King makes me ashamed to be an American a human being.
Heh, heh, Barbara Lee is one of mine!
I consider myself as cynical as the next guy but I'm honestly shocked! Any resolution supporting a religion (and it gets into supporting christianity pretty damned fast) I assumed would be utterly unconstitutional and untouchable. Sheesh. Do the reps ever *think*
He may be prone to occasional Star Wars outbursts anyway, or I may have set him off a bit earlier in the day (US time).
It's unlikely that they do so very much. If they were habitual thinkers they would be more likely to be scientists (and atheists too) than politicians in the first place.
Although this bill passed the House (amazing!), I'm hoping it will get knocked down in the Senate. I've already emailed my Senatrix (Mikulski) about it! Thanks for the heads-up.
I should also note that while searching for this bill on www.govtrack.us, I found one recognizing the contributions of Gian Carlo Menotti ([Amahl and the Night Visitors], but I think his best opera was The Consul). It's sure nice to know that our congress is busy this holiday season!
SG
::splutter; tea goes everywhere::
Wh...whaaa? ...How? Who came up with this? How could this have passed even one level of voting? Didn't something substantial need fixing? Was there nothing good on TV?
I'm confused and sad. And I know I'll be getting umpteen MySpace bulletins from my Christian friends celebrating. Ugh.
Not overreacting!?!? Try intergalactic overreaching!
First, do you really want to threaten members of Congress with execution (you did say "treason") over how they vote on matters that have been properly presented to them for consideration? If you think that's a good idea, try imagining that threat in the hands of someone on the other side of an issue you care about. (I'm only guessing here, but I suspect members of Congress are specifically protected against prosecution for the proper performance of their duties. If they aren't, they should be.)
Next, keep in mind that this is a purely ceremonial resolution. Much as I hate the message even considering such a one-sidedly religious resolution sends, it has no legal effect, and therefore probably can't even be considered unconstitutional, never mind treasonous.
It's also political poison, whether you and I think it should be or not. I'd be willing to bet everyone rep who voted against this resolution is from an absolutely safe district. OTOH, my rep, on whose last campaign I was a volunteer, won by just 83 votes, out of (IIRC) over 200,000 cast. After 2006, there are more than a few freshman Democrats in the House, and while nobody had a closer race that Joe Courtney, many were at least somewhat close. Those freshmen amount to targets that represent the Republicans' best hope of avoiding electoral disaster in 2008; I have no doubt that this resolution is one of several designed specifically to tempt them to cast embarrassing votes that can be used against them next Fall.
I'm pissed at the Democratic leadership for allowing this to come to the floor -- aren't you supposed to be able to control the agenda when you're in the majority? -- but I'm not at all pissed at my rep for not voting against this. I sent him to Washington to work on healthcare and education and ending the war and restoring our international relationships and changing our energy/climate policy and... and a bunch of things that are materially important to our future. I don't want him wasting his bullets shooting at Santa Claus.
Between this post and my contributions to the various threads about atheist holiday displays, y'all are probably about to name me Appeaser of the Week... but I'm really not arguing that we shouldn't fight; instead, I'm arguing that we should take a more strategic approach to when we fight, and against whom, and in what manner. I've never studied military science, but I'm pretty sure they don't teach future commanders to throw all their troops and materiel into every single fight they come across. I'd guess that's a Hell of a way to run a war.
Pick your battles, eh, Bill?
I think your points are well-made, and I can't disagree. Nonetheless, I'm disappointed by the conspicuous lack of "D-Mass" names on that list. Yes, we have bigger fish to fry, but this is still appalling.
Furthermore, if one looks at this sort of resolution as a wedge... that feeling of equanimity does fade a bit, doesn't it?
Yeah. Me too.
Well, I may have over-reacted a bit.
From the Des Moines register:
"King said he decided to offer the resolution after two similar
resolutions earlier this year recognized the importance of Ramadan,
the Islamic holy month, and Diwali, a festival of importance to
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains."
I doubt the resolution recognizing the importance of Ramadan included recognizing Islaam as on of the great religions of the world (or maybe it did). But nevertheless I underestimated the extent to which the House considers it worth their time to pass resolutions declaring apples are good for you, Santa Claus is a good guy, they disapprove of Berkeley having a local post office named for someone who may have been a registered as a socialist in the sixties.
Nonetheless, please don't take my fantasy of taking 379 of the house of representatives out back and shooting them. It's dreams like this that keep me going in these times.
I was channel surfing yesterday and came across a preacher on one of the God channels here who was exhorting his listeners not to let America go the way of those godless Europeans. He said the European tendency to avoid church and be secular in outlook explained why Europe was in such a moral mess.
Hey, I'm not saying it. I'm just the messenger!
Just to be clear, this was a resolution, not a bill. So it doesn't get sent to the Senate or to W for him to sign into law. It has no legal import. It's a just a cheap way for reps to look like they are actually doing something, and to bankroll a few Xian votes for next year's elections.
It passed, 372-9, with 10 voting "present" and 40 not voting. So there were 19 reps with half a brain each.
First, do you really want to threaten members of Congress with execution (you did say "treason") over how they vote on matters that have been properly presented to them for consideration?
My thinking was this is the state endorsing a religion which is damaging to the constitution which they swore to uphold. Of course, introducing a resolution to recind the first ammendment is okay but I had thought it'd be wrong to disobey it while it was still the law and ...
It was three a.m. in the morning, all right? A little insomniac hyperbole? Not *that* horrible a crime, was it?
Appeaser of the week? No, I'm the concern troll after all.
People, people. There are much bigger things we could impeach and hang Congress for than a meaningless Baby-Jesus-Cock-Suck-Resolution.
Like an illegal war of aggression. Or for legalizing torture. For abdicating their power of oversight. Or for suspending habeas corpus.
If we impeached and hung Democrats for treason every time they quivered and shook at the slightest hint that the fascists might be upset at them if they stood up for basic human dignity, we'd have ten thousand representatives in the noose, and ten thousand more in the queue.
*sigh*
I guess I *did* over-react:
house recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world
Okay, going through THOMAS, I know see that the house and senate have passed resolutions
:recognizing the importance of Ramadan and acknowledging Islam as one of the worlds great religions and condems bigotry against muslims
:recognizing the importance of Diwali (although not recognizing Hinduism as one of the worlds great religions) and the importance of Indian culture
:recognizing the importance of the agricultural industry of Pennsylvania
:recognizing the importance of soul music in history of American culture and commemorating the contributions of STAX records in Memphis.
Okay, I'll be the first to admit it. I over-reacted.
(BTW, neat resource THOMAS is...)
As long as the house is passing ceremonial and nicey-nicey resolutions, how do we go about recognizing the contributions of athiest, the nobility of atheism as a valid philosophy, and condemnation of prejudice and bigotry against athiesm. If it passes or if it fails we have something on the reps. records.
This is the only bill containing the word "atheist" or "atheism" in it. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c110:./temp/~c110vQuaeA
Huzzah! Steve King represents my hometown of Sioux City, IA. (I have since relocated to bluer climes) My parents are inexplicably proud of having voted for this troll time and time again. Sadly, though, Rep. King is stranded at the Des Moines airport -- what? He doesn't fly the fabulous Sioux Gateway Airport? -- because of the ice and so won't get to vote on his own bill.
Now, if you all will excuse me, my boyfriend and I are plotting on how to destroy a few more heterosexual marriages (look out, PZ and Trophy Wife™!) and continuing our godless war on Christmas by sending out holiday cards.
Note that 84% of democrats present voted aye as compared to 89% of republicans present. That isn't much of a difference. It is true that no republican opposed the resolution, but only 4% of democrats present did so. Again this isn't much of a difference. The democrats may be slightly less awful on these issues, but since they are the majority they still provided more votes for this resolution than the republicans did (195 D vs. 177 R).
It is also worth noting that Dennis Kucinich, often characterized as the strongest supporter of church state separation among the current crop of democratic presidential candidates, voted for this resolution.
Well.... shit.
I dunno. Given that the house passes silly resolutions formally recognizing Memphis, Tennesse as the birth place of Soul Music and Pennsylvania as a forerunner of agriculture, and, ahem, recognizing Islam as one of the great world religions and formally recognizing the importance of Ramadan, it'd be kind of impossible not to vote for this. I mean I'd vote for recognizing Islaam as religion equally valid as Christianity and I'd vote to decry prejudice and bigotry against Muslims. I'd be hypocritical to not recognize vice versa. Course Christians in America don't need this silly resolution while American Muslims do...
I do seriously think if we can pass these silly resolutions we really ought to submit a resolution recognizing the importance of atheism and opposing bigotry against atheism.
How about a silly resolution recognizing the silliness of all silly resolutions everywhere?
Sorry to be OT, but I've been trying to figure out for a while now: how do you make that TM sign??
Sorry to be OT, but I've been trying to figure out for a while now: how do you make that TM sign??
Hmm, you can cut and past it from a document to get:
™
There are some keyboard commands to type it depending on your software and hardware but I can't remember them.
You can try to do some html such as:
<sup><font size="-2">TM<sup></font> which might not work on these boards. Let's try:
TM
And then there is a special html character code... Lemme look it up....
™
Let's try that:
?
And &tm; should work on some browsers:
&tm;
Okay &tm; doesn't work.
But ™ does.: ?
Let's try the <sup>TM</sup> biz some more:
Trophy WifeTM
Trophy WifeTM
Trophy WifeTM>
Trophy WifeTM
Okay, <sup>TM</sup> works if that's easier to remember than ™ but it doesn't make things smaller:
Trophy WifeTM
If you are nerdy you can do the <a style=""< but that get's iffy. The size didn't work above.
How's this:
50 percent:Trophy WifeTM
1Trophy WifeTM
2Trophy WifeTM
3Trophy WifeTM
4Trophy WifeTM
5Trophy WifeTM
neg1Trophy WifeTM
neg2Trophy WifeTM
neg3Trophy WifeTM
Okay, this is involved but I like the result the best:
<a style="vertical-align; super; font-size: 40%; color: #666666">TM</a>
Trophy WifeTM
Ooops:
<a style="vertical-align: super; font-size: 40%; color: #666666">TM</a>
Colon, not semi-colon, after the "vertical-align"
Better Trophy WifeTM
Try [ampersand]trade:
Like This&trade
Yup yup, ampersand "trade" semi-colon works:
™ = Trademark™
You can find most html commands easily just by goggling "html [command]" (e.g., "html trademark symbol" or "html symbols"). Since we're on the topic, does anyone know if we can use comic sans in posts here? Thought I saw someone use it once, but haven't had any luck with the formatting commands I've attempted.
The trick with message boards that filter out tags like <font face="Comic Sans MS">
font face="Comic Sans MS" color="red">Comic Sans
... (like this one does) ...
is to use the <a style="font-family:Comic Sans MS; color: red;""> tag. Like this:
Red Comic Sans
Yup yup, ampersand "trade" semi-colon works:
Ah! ™ (™) not &tm; (&tm;) I knew it was something!
™ is obviously the easiest!
Oh, and if you want to post an image like this
";>
";>
";>
";>
(isn't it cute? It's me! woozy!)
you do this:
Oh, and if you want to post an image like this
<a style="background-image:url(http://images.greencine.com/images/icons/user/catwoozyicon.jpg); font-size=800%";> & etc. nbsp; ";>
";>
";>
";> </a>
Oops, overkill.
Let's try just one (the preview and the final post have different renderings)
which is:
<a style="background-image:url(http://images.greencine.com/images/icons/user/catwoozyicon.jpg); font-size=800%"> </a>
If you want to get nasty you can play with positioning and post your comments all over teh page including over other people's comments or PZ's posts.
Argh! getting the proportions right is hard:
Testing, testing.
It *almost* worked.
Thank goodness I'm an your side.
Too far. But *now*!
I did it in the spirit of inquiry
...innocent whistle...
If you go that far, surely she's Mikulska! :o)
woozy, thanks a lot! Very helpful!
Thanks, woozy.
heh! heh!
Argh!!!
Thanks! Now I can have my very own Trophy Wife™.
Trophy Wife™, get me a beer!
I wasn't expecting so much Star Wars® stuff in response to my question, though.
Consider it an homage!
Did you mean "autocephalous", or did you really mean "headless"...?
Because the link above doesn't work, and because the page is rather long, I copy the relevant part:
If you go that far, surely she's Mikulska! :o)
woozy, thanks a lot! Very helpful!