For once, I agree with the righties. The assault on Christmas has gone too far. Case in point: two years ago at my company's Christmas party my daughter got a great art set. Last year, my younger daughter got a Duplo boat; I forget what my older daughter got, so it must not have been too great. This year, my younger daughter got a Duplo school bus! How's that for original? My older daughter got a puzzle of the United States, but she already had one! What a lousy party. And, oh yeah, they had a dragon at the Christmas party. Who ever heard of a Christmas dragon? Must be a Jewish thing.

Plus, Ms. Hammer went to buy Napoleon Dynamite as a gift for me. Target -- the same guys who are in hot water for trying to be 'consistent' and not favor one charity over another in its solicitation policy -- was sold out! Gee, a Hollywood movie sold out at Christmas? You bet I blame the secularists, sodomites, and Jews!

Finally -- it's no secret that Hammer loves his Packers more than his dim, blind dog. (Does he? Hammer didn't build a ramp for the Packers, but he wood. Heh.) Michael Vick goes to the Pro Bowl ahead of Brett Favre? Favre's not the guy he was 8 years ago, but his first 25 and last 17 passes were as good as anybody has ever played the game. (It's those 2 interceptions in the middle that hurt.) And, sure the Packers have played on Christmas Eve 6 times in the last 30 years, but this year it's a real slap in the face and assault on Christianity. In 1972 (loss), 1989 (win), 1994 (win), 1995 (win; Hines Ward drops a touchdown pass and the Packers are division champions), 2000 (win; Martin Gramatica misses a chip shot field goal at the end of regulation).

We truly need to go back to the days when Christmas was a true holiday, but not before 1870. And certainly not to 1659 to 1681, when Christians banned the celebration of Christmas.

From Campaign Desk.org, December 23, 2004

It's Christmas, and the Echo Chamber is in Full Chorus

Stories about banned Christmas carols and employers forbidding the use of "Merry Christmas" in favor of "Happy Holidays" seem to pop up each December. Over the past few days, however, the issue has been moved front and center by a hungry press, with stories popping up in the national media almost daily, and conservative television host Bill O'Reilly running a daily segment titled "Christmas Under Siege."

But wade through the wall-to-wall coverage of the story, and it becomes apparent that there are only a handful of examples -- three, to be exact -- being recycled in article after article. Many of these pieces use the same incidents in almost the same way. Some even hit for the cycle, as USA Today did today, referencing all three stories in one shot.

The first heavily cited anecdote comes from New Jersey's South Orange-Maplewood school district's decision to ban Christmas carols at school holiday concerts. That story, egged on by conservative opinion columnists, has seen ink in the New York Post, the Washington Times, Daily [UK] Telegraph, Newsday, Mississippi's Sun Herald, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, just to name a few.

Similarly, at least 27 mainstream newspapers have reported on Macy's owner Federated Department Stores' rule forbidding its outlets from using the phrase "Merry Christmas." Trouble is, the rule doesn't exist. According to the company's Web site, its stores have "no policy with regard to the use of specific references to Christmas ... This includes using the phrase Merry Christmas if they believe it is appropriate to do so." But fact never stopped the echo chamber, and in this case reporters continue to parrot Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly, transcribing the complaints of an anti-Macy's group called the "Committee to Save Merry Christmas," often with no rebuttal from the store itself.

The third anecdote, cited in roughly 25 papers, revolves around the righteous indignation caused by the City of Denver when it denied a local church's application to have a float in the city's holiday parade -- although the city notes that it hasn't allowed religious or politically themed floats in over a decade.

When not flogging the same three stories -- two of which are essentially false -- to create the appearance of a genuine national trend, the media is busy interviewing the same outraged representatives of a few conservative family groups trying to put the Christ back in Christmas. The Alliance Defense Fund, for example, has been cited in numerous stories in the past week, as has the Rutherford Institute, another conservative group.

We're reluctant to take the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in this morality play, but in the course of digesting over four dozen of these faux stories, the words "Bah, Humbug!" just kept coming to mind.

So we have a suggestion for all the reporters and editors who are keeping this one alive: Instead of worrying so much about putting Christ back in Christmas, you might start thinking about putting news back in "news reports."

What Do Americans Who Are Hostile to Christmas Really Want?

Although they may or may not consciously realize it, those Americans who want to take Christ out of Christmas really want to return to the days before Christmas was celebrated as a traditional cultural and religious holiday in America. Many want to return to a time when pagans celebrated a winter solstice holiday instead of Christmas. Jerry Falwell

When Christmas Becomes Illegal

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oops, did I say Christmas? I meant to wish you Happy Holidays or a Cheerful Winter Season. Christmas, you see, contains that dirty little word ... Christ.

If you don't believe me, just ask the veteran first-grade teacher who was informed this week that she could not mention the word "Christmas" in her Sacramento public school classroom. (Ed: Huge lie. World Net Daily quotes the school district's spokes person: "You can say 'Christmas,' you can say 'Hanukkah,' it is nowhere written in any policy; I don't think our board of education or superintendent would prohibit that." You can also examine the district's website, which mentions Christmas here and here and many other times.)

Imagine that. Christmas banned in a public school classroom. This interdiction is actually quite predictable because the word Christmas and the concept of a holiday bearing the name of Christ contradicts the situational ethics that pervades many public school classrooms. If there is no true right and wrong, there must not be a notion of a Savior or the need of a Savior.

However, such a ban is nothing less than religious persecution. In order to promote "diversity," these types of policies actually target individual for their beliefs. It is systematic discrimination that is unconstitutional and illegal.

Tragically, the ACLU and similar groups have convinced many public school officials that the mere mention of Christ or a biblical reference is barred by law. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In the Harry Potter (ed: Falwell is promoting witchcraft!) series, the evil character Voldemort is so feared that his name must never be mentioned. Similarly, real-life religious antagonists today are creating an environment that virtually prohibits the mention of Christ in public school classrooms or in the public square. By twisting the meaning of the Constitution, they have produced an atmosphere of fear regarding Christ and Judeo-Christian teachings.

Across the nation, school and city officials are banning Christian themes. Nativity scenes have been barred in some New York schools. A New Jersey middle school cancelled a field trip to attend a performance of a play based on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." In Lewistown, Pa., a Christian church was denied tax exemption because it distributes food to needy families (the activity was deemed not to be religious worship). In Cleveland, Tenn., missionaries have been barred from placing religious literature on cars (even though other groups frequently do so). The Ten Commandments - the very foundation of American law - have been banned in many public arenas. (Thank God that Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore is leading the defense of the Commandments by legally defending his erection of a Ten Commandments monument in the rotunda of his courthouse.)

These alarming actions are part of a diabolical scheme by anti-religion devotees to create distinctive and unfair rules for religious Americans. These individual cases will eventually add up to a national climate of overt hostility toward Christianity (and Christians). It's really quite a frightening scenario, but we are literally watching it unfold before our eyes.

We have seen a federal court panel rule that the mention of God in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Atheists are now attempting to seek the ban of congressional chaplains. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has admitted that he wants the word God erased from American coins. These people literally want a godless society, a concept that dramatically conflicts with the God-centered nation our Founders created and nurtured.

The agenda is clear. Christians must be prepared to stand ready to fight for their rights. It is apparent that our adversaries who wish to stifle us will not rest until they have silenced every last one of us.