Free Republic

SAN FRANCISCO — It was the week before Christmas when Irv Sutley, a former warehouse worker, first saw the offending ornament in a government building in Sonoma County, just north of here. “I was turning around in the lobby, and I noticed the tree,” Mr. Sutley said. “And then, I noticed the angel.” Mr. Sutley, an atheist, said he then went to the office of the county Board of Supervisors. “And there was a star,” he said. Technically, neither stars nor angels belong to any particular religion. But to the mind of Mr. Sutley, 65, a veteran who has fought...

Will have to buckle down and just enjoy the true meaning of Christmas this year...

NORTH ANDOVER — First it was the menorah on the town common. Now it's the Merry Christmas sign on the fire station. The town has put an end to a longtime holiday tradition ordering firefighters to take down their homemade Merry Christmas sign from outside the fire station after people complained. The sign had been up for a week before it was taken down Friday. Fire Chief William Martineau said the sign was made by firefighters some 50 years ago and was never an issue before. "I think Christmas is officially a religious holiday. But to all of us, it...

Somewhere in the bureaucratic haze of Oakland city government, in a spacious office with views of Frank Ogawa Plaza, there is a holiday grinch who has actually succeeded in swiping a slice of Christmas spirit from city residents. Now I already know what you're thinking, so let's get it out of the way. It is not Mayor Ron Dellums. He has been out of town since Saturday attending to a death in the family, said Paul Rose, the mayor's overused, underinformed press secretary. On Monday, Oakland city officials informed Marco Li Mandri, executive director of two business community benefit districts...

A Texas woman put up an American flag for Memorial Day, and was told to remove it because it was offensive to a coworker. The kicker is the offended employee is not from the United States. I know ... shocker.

The right-wing crusade against the liberal "war on Christmas" is great for rallying the troops. Too bad the war doesn't exist. In 1959, the recently formed John Birch Society issued an urgent alert: Christmas was under attack. In a JBS pamphlet titled "There Goes Christmas?!" a writer named Hubert Kregeloh warned, "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas -- to denude the event of its religious meaning." The central front in this perfidious assault was American department stores, where...

stole all their Christmas presents left three children heartbroken and their mum suffering a heart attack from the shock. Kate Baker came home from Christmas drinks with friends about 10pm on Sunday to find her children and young grandchildren sobbing and inconsolable over the mean-spirited crime. The shock triggered a heart attack that led to the single mum being rushed to Cairns Base Hospital that night, before being released yesterday afternoon. Just three days out from Christmas, the family now has to come up with the cash to buy all the presents again.

Obama is going to raise your taxes to give it to those that pay little to know taxes. Here's how I started to afford the Obama tax hikes. Here’s how I’m handling it. I typically leave the maid a tip at the hotel I stay at...I’m checking out today so instead of a tip...I left a note: “I wish I could afford to leave you a tip, but I’m saving for the Obama tax hike. However, I’m sure Obama will take good care of you as he plans to tax me to give it to you. Obama is going to...

Chris Matthews: Back With an Obamania Vengeance . . . If Barack Obama makes it to the White House, perhaps he should appoint Chris Matthews Commissar of Gosplan, the Commission charged with developing the economy's Five Year Plans. The Hardball host, back from vacation, displayed the enthusiasm of a dutiful apparatchik in praising an Obama ad that was in turn a pitch for central planning. During the "ad wars" segment on this evening's Hardball, Matthews first played a McCain ad that hit Obama over his plans to raise taxes and his lack of readiness to lead. After Andrea Mitchell suggested...

The Grinch nixes another holiday. What's next? Roast beast tax?Everyone down in Whoville liked tax holidays A LOT. But, the Grinch, who lived north of D.C., the Grinch he DID NOT! The Grinch hated tax breaks. Don't ask the reason. It took money from the quote-unquote "poor"... and cut cash for his sleazing. So the Grinch growled, his fingers nervously drumming. I must. I must keep this gas tax holiday from coming. Then a thought dawned and turned into a smile. The grin the Grinch shows when he's about to defile. I'll take this tax break and turn it inside...

Merchants long have tried to lure shoppers into rising at ungodly hours to snare blockbuster bargains on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. But are the deals actually better? Turns out that often they are not.

Good morning and - at the risk of shutting down school systems and sending city workers fleeing in panic onto the icy streets - Merry Christmas! This is the year that Santa Claus was officially declared a subversive agent by McCall Middle School in Winchester. This was the year that Andover forced the Salvation Army to deploy bell-less bell ringers outside old Town Hall. The year a goose-stepping government goon in Salem declared holiday bake sales at schools and churches verboten. Like the Burgermeister Meisterburger before her, she has ruled that Granny’s non-government-authorized Christmas cookies are simply too dangerous to...

Hate preacher Omar Bakri, who is barred from Britain, is calling on Brits to boycott Christmas. Using the internet to post a rant against the festive season, Bakri claims Christmas should be "completely forbidden". In another chilling post the radical cleric said Christmas Day would be the perfect day to launch a terror attack on the UK. He said: "To have Christmas tree, visit so-called Christmas Father - that is completely forbidden. "Make sure you do not watch TV. Do not let them hear jingle bells. Do not send your children on Christmas trip." Bakri's previous vile rants included his...

What a let down that 1,700 care packages lovingly prepared by Montreal-area residents and community groups destined for Canadian troops in Afghanistan, won’t be getting there.The Christmas care packages for soldiers have been grounded after the military said they could not be sent overseas.Claiming security concerns and a lack of space on transport aircraft as reasons for blocking the packages, Canadian Forces brass informed nonplussed members of the Roxboro Legion, who spearheaded the drive that they cannot accept the packages. Parcels must be addressed to a specific soldier, the military said, and not “Any CF member”.While citing security concerns would...

Dear Ellen, Christmas is disgusting. It’s all pagan worship. Even most Christians don’t realize that all their decorations and traditions come from ancient Babylon. Our family doesn’t cave in to all this stuff and I tell friends at church they shouldn’t either. Signed, Ms. Christian Grinch Dear Ms. Grinch, By saying “all this stuff,” I assume we’re talking Christmas trees, mistletoe, hasty pudding, Yule logs, etc.? I grant that Christmas choices are a matter of personal conscience. I had a similar e-mail conversation with another Christian killjoy last month so I retrieve and relate to you my comments to him....

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- President Bush granted pardons Tuesday to carjackers, drug dealers, a moonshiner and an election-laws violator but not to I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his vice president's former top aide who was convicted in the case of the leaked identity of a CIA operative. In all, Bush pardoned 29 convicts and reduced the prison sentence of one more in the end-of-the-year presidential tradition. Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Bush has granted 142 pardons and commuted five sentences since taking office in 2001 — lagging far behind the pace set by most modern presidents. The list was issued with...

Mailman arrested for stealing cards BY JOHN MARZULLI DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, December 8th 2007, 4:00 AM Every thief has a hallmark, and a Brooklyn letter carrier is the Greeting Card Bandit. The feds arrested Michael Olivio this week after an elaborate sting operation to identify the Grinch-like mailman in Bath Beach who intercepted hundreds of greeting cards for the cash inside, the Daily News has learned. After receiving complaints from residents in the 11214 area code, the bait was set. Special Agent Stephen Dolloff mailed "test greeting card letters" to the postal customers who had complained. One customer...

Kettle cash tempting to thieves http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/329594.html http://tinyurl.com/ypos7x Posted on Mon, Dec. 03, 2007 BY DIANA MOSKOVITZ Yes, Virginia, there are grinches out there. And they steal from the Salvation Army's red kettles. One bell ringer told police she was robbed in Lighthouse Point last month when she left her kettle for a few minutes to use the bathroom. ''That is the last thing the world needs right now,'' said Capt. Tom Louden, area commander for the Salvation Army in Broward. Such thefts are a perennial problem around the country for the Salvation Army. About 20,000 red kettles appear at storefronts...

A Colorado city is considering a plan that one attorney calls the epitome of the war against Christmas. Tonight, the Fort Collins City Council will meet and decide the fate of a task force report that urges the city to decorate with white lights, winter symbols not traditionally associated with any particular holiday, and unadorned garlands of greenery. City staffers are also encouraged to remove ornaments or stars from trees and red ribbons from wreaths. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, says the task force is seriously misguided. "I think it's absolutely ridiculous that anyone would consider banning red and...

Poll question at: http://coloradoan.com/ reads: "Do you agree with the recommendations by the [neo-grinches on the] Fort Collins holiday display task force?"As of now, it's 89% against, w/ 2100 votes. Yay! Ages ago in Ft Collins, they stripped religion or any hint of it from public C***stmas displays: no Nativities or Stars of Bethlehem, the word "C****tmas" replaced with "Holidays" and so on. And recently, all or most of the main downtown tree display (Oak St Plaza) switched from colored lights to all-white. But that's still not enough. All remaining reminders of C****tmas must go! Or else! The Grinch Squad,...