I subscribe to Spanish On Patrol’s “Word of the Day”–I don’t actually speak Spanish, so I rely on our many Spanish speakers here to get it right, and I work with Google Translate, et cetera, but it’s fun to learn new word. (Although it’s not going to save life, the way it might for the police officers and correctional officers that are the main customers of Spanish On Patrol.

Please note that while it says “Happy Holidays” in English, it says Feliz Navidad, meaning “Merry Christmas” in Spanish. Well, this is why we need to ban Spanish in the workplace–how is the Human Relations Department supposed to know that people are saying something offensive like “Merry Christmas” if people are allowed to talk foreign all the time?

This is a list of some of the vandalism cited by the Catholic League–they don’t provide details for most of the occurrences, but see below:

Catholic League: For Religious and Civil Rights
MANGER SCENES VANDALIZED

December 19, 2007

Today, the Catholic League erected a nativity scene in Central Park. Unfortunately, vandals have destroyed or stolen manger scenes nationwide. Here are some of the locales:

· Foreman, Arkansas
· Rogers, Arkansas
· Antioch, California
· Glastonbury, Connecticut
· Arredondo Farms, Florida (three instances)
· Bal Harbour, Florida
· Fort Walton Beach, Florida
· Panama City, Florida (more than a dozen incidences)
· Tampa, Florida
· Bainbridge, Georgia
· Schaumberg, Illinois (two instances)
· Kearney, Missouri (two instances)
· Kirkwood, Missouri
· Bozeman, Montana
· Lattimore, North Carolina
· Westbury, New York (the homeowner was assaulted)
· Elyria, Ohio
· Sylvania Township, Ohio
· Greensboro, North Carolina
· Leesburg, Virginia
· Marlow, West Virginia

In perhaps the sickest incident, an elementary public school coach in Marietta, Georgia drove students around the area in his pickup truck instructing them to thrash Christmas displays after dark; they also created obscene displays with some of the adorning statues.

There’s also this, from Eugene, Oregon: Nativity vandalism probed as hate crime,December 24, 2007:

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Two separate Eugene families whose nativity scenes were desecrated this week when a vandal replaced the baby Jesus figure with severed pigs’ heads say they were targeted because of their religious faith.

The culprits left other, more secular decorations untouched and focused only on the families’ religious displays.

“To me, they definitely wanted to make a religious statement,” said David Stahl of Eugene, who discovered a pig head in his front yard Thursday. “This takes definite thought and too much anger.”

Christians worldwide have so far failed to respond by rioting, killing innocent bystanders or each other, or burning the Oregon State Flag. Maybe Christians actually are a religion of peace?

This an example of what I’m calling “War On Christmas” denial, from Robert McHenry, the former editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica:

This Christmas, Just Say “No” to War -Britannica Blog

Robert McHenry - December 24th, 2007
In the mind of the media blowhard, you must realize, the term “war” can potentially be used to refer to any disagreement that may occur among the 300,000,000 inhabitants of this notably unhomogeneous land. The key is whether the ostensible subject matter of the “war” is likely to grab the attention of the ignorant, the ill- and quick-tempered, and the not usefully occupied. Christmas is a slam-dunk.

The evidences of war are pretty thin on the ground. Were it not for the fact that one type of evidence, the public Nativity scene, involves cute animals and angels and shepherds and Wise Men and, of course, the Baby Jesus, it would all amount to less than nothing. There are perhaps 50,000 cities, towns, villages, hamlets, and crossroads settlements in the United States. In a couple dozen of these over the last few years some Grinch has decided to challenge the display of the Nativity on public property, and in only a handful of cases has some addled lower-court judge failed to distinguish between “establishing” a religion – forbidden in the Constitution – and acknowledging one.

Of course, he’s badly underestimating the challenges to Nativity scenes, some of which have reached the Supreme Court, [See Lynch v. Donnelly, and see a PDF of the Nativity scene that was displayed in Pawtucket for over 40 years.]and of course, there are the physical attacks and vandalism against Nativity scenes, one of which I highlighted here in January:

Man Sets Nativity Scene And Church On Fire

The fellow who did this apparently made some remarks about God, as he was doing his arson thing.

No one was hurt, but the manger and such were a total loss. This is the second such incident this year; the last guy set himself on fire.

Reader B.J. Verner, (e-mail) also known as the Christian Christmas Lady and the author of “101 Ways to Have a Christian Christmas” reports that Comcast Cable Services[Contact them] has gone politically correct.

Each year 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas.

It is one of the most unifying Americans rituals that we practice. All of us have our personal Christmas Advent rituals. One of my favorite for years has been to turn on the Comcast Cable Services community announcements to have the Christmas music as a backdrop to my Advent activities. In Chicago Heights the community bulletin board is on Channel 4.

I usually have it on most of the day while I do Christmas decorating, Christmas cooking, or when friends are over. Comcast played all kinds of Christmas music–carols, ditties, pop Christmas classics. Their offering usually runs the gamut of the thousands of Christmas songs and instrumentals that are representative of our American culture.

However this year, to my stunned surprise, it is December 21th and no Christmas music on the Comcast Cable Services community bulletin board. They have Christmas announcements from churches and community organizations and green and red messages from the Chicago Heights Mayor’s office–but no Christmas music. They are playing progressive jazz! They could at least play progressive jazz Christmas tunes. I am wondering if this is only local, could it be that Comcast has nixed Christmas across its national system?

Tom Piatak writes:

National Review long ago ran up the white flag in the War against Christmas. Now, it is joining the other side, with Kathryn Jean Lopez echoing a reader’s complaint that Mike Huckabee’s ad wishing everyone a Merry Christmas is “offensive:”

It’s hard to fathom the source of Lopez’ outrage. There is absolutely nothing preventing all the candidates from running similar ads. In fact, Ron Paul has run a similar internet ad. Wishing someone “Merry Christmas” used to be as American as apple pie. Now it is suspect, and subject to endless second guessing and analysis. We will know the enemies of Christmas have been defeated when Americans, once again, wish each other “Merry Christmas” as a matter of course, with no one questioning their motives or claiming to be “offended.”

Penelope Trunk, [Send her mail] who blogs on work related issues and has written a book called Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success, has a new rule for success–abolish Christmas.

Five things people say about Christmas that drive me nuts » Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
Christmas does not belong in the workplace because it undermines diversity at work. And businesses that promote diversity have more profits in the long run than companies that do not have a diverse workforce.

A big problem with Christmas is that those of us who have no reason to celebrate it have to spend a month between Thanksgiving and New Year’s dealing with Christmas at work. Christmas is the only religious holiday that everyone has to stop working for. It’s the only religious event that offices have parties to celebrate. These practices alienate non-Christians.

There’s a lot more, but in her resentment against Christmas, she’s missing a fairly basic economic point here–the money you might potentially lose by alienating a member of a minority is nothing to what you lose by alienating the majority. Look at the Republican Party’s quest for the minority vote.

The other point is that if Christmas undermines “diversity at work,”  then from my point of view “diversity at work” undermines Christmas, and maybe we should rethink this whole diversity thing, rather than abolishing Christmas.

Linda Thom writes:

On Tuesday last, my husband and I flew from SeaTac airport in Seattle to third-world LAX.  As we were short of time, I skipped looking for the blue holiday poles reported by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and simply looked around at the airline counters at check-in.

The Sun Air desk sports a Ch……. tree.  Ornaments and artificial snow flakes decorate the Delta counter.  At the Korean Air counter, behind the all Korean staff, hangs a glittery, MERRY CHRISTMAS.  I didn’t notice any protesting Buddhists.

Linda Thom reporting from the Evergreen State with lots of Ch…….trees.

Since the War on Christmas has garnered some closer to mainstream attention, expect a bunch of communiques stating that the War on Christmas does not exist–these three are all from different bloggers at the liberal Huffington Post:

• Preemptive Strike on the War on Christmas
• Who Won The War On Christmas? At My School, It Was The Druids
• Babylon And On: Fox And Friends Stage ‘War’ On Christmas Circle-Jerk

Ronald Bailey writes from Bali, where globalists who want you to stop driving your pickup or SUV have flown thousands of miles to talk about “global warming.” Bali was the site of a savage Muslim terrorist attack in 2002, and another in 2005, but apparently they’re not participating in the War On Christmas:

Nusa Dua, Bali — The second week of the U.N.’s annual Climate Change conference, also known as the 13th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP-13), took off on Monday. I have covered four previous meetings—Milan, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Nairobi—and I must say that the 10,000 or so U.N. bureaucrats, diplomats, and environmental lobbyists have outdone themselves this time. The conference center facilities at the Nusa Dua beach resort on Bali are spectacular. If it were up to me, I would make Bali the permanent climate meeting site. (I, on the other hand, am ensconced in a perfectly serviceable business hotel about 7 miles from the resort area. In the spirit of multiculturalism, the lobby features a large artificial Christmas tree and an elaborate Santa figure on the reception desk.)[Reason Magazine - Do the Rich Owe the Poor Climate Change Reparations?]

Maybe your local Town Hall can catch up with the multiculturalism of Bali.

As VDARE.COM prepares to launch its ninth annual War Against Christmas Competition, readers who share our concern about the national trend to abolish the holiest of days might will want to know where to go to find reassurance that Christianity still thrives at Christmastime.

I recommend a wonderful book by Brenda J. Verner titled 101 Ways To Have A Christian Christmas available at Amazon.Com and from the publisher, Tyndale House.

Verner’s book will resonate with VDARE.COM readers. Each of the six chapters–“Your Home,” “Your Family,” “Your Neighborhood,” “Your Town,” “Your Church,” and “Christian Christmas Activism” offer practical advice for celebrating a true Christian Christmas.

In the sixth chapter Verner, who is also known as the Christian Christmas Lady, gives the correct terms for today’s politically correct lingo.

In her author’s note, Verner writes that she “never encountered anyone who openly voiced opposition to the lordship of Jesus Christ until she went away to college –first to Ithaca College and then to Harvard University.” Despite the pressure put on her during her student years to reject her faith in Jesus and become more “progressive,” Verner resisted and has taken her Christmas message to the world in her book.

Verner, who you can contact directly at her e-mail here Chrchristmaslady@aol.com sends this message to VDARE.COM readers:

I am Brenda Verner, the Christian Christmas Lady. I am the author of the book “101 Ways To Have A Christian Christmas.” As we begin this 2007 season of Advent, most Christians are aware that not only the celebration of Christmas, but also our very Christian culture is experiencing relentless assaults by secularists, with the intent of diminishing the open practice of Christianity in the United States. Over the course of the past fifty years, organized consistent campaigns to de-Christianize the marketplace and the public square, particularly the celebration of Christmas, have been relatively successful at dampening exuberant public displays of worship of Jesus Christ. Presently, the American Christmas shopper is in the grip of merchants who demand to present a secularized Christless Christmas. This should be considered no small issue.

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