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  State lawmakers in Texas have passed legislation that permits public schools to display nativity scenes, menorahs, or Christmas trees, and allows students and school district staff to use greetings such as, “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Hanukkah,” and “Happy Holidays.” According to Fox News in Austin, the legislation (HB 308), introduced by Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-Houston) and dubbed “The Merry Christmas Bill,” received overwhelming approval in the state house, by a margin of 145-2, and was passed unanimously in the state senate, 29-0. The bill will now be sent to Gov. Rick Perry (R) for his signature. “I was a...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our FReeper FRiends!! God bless, Jim, Sheila, John and Chris

Luke 2:1-21 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was,...

December 24, 2012 Why Did NORAD Start Tracking Santa? Matt Soniak On December 24, 1955, the red telephone at the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado began ringing.The red phone meant it was either the Pentagon or CONAD commander in chief General Earle Partridge on the other end, and their reason for calling would probably not be pleasant.U.S. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, director of operations at the center, rushed over to the phone and grabbed it.“Yes Sir, this is Colonel Shoup,” he barked.Nothing but silence in response.“Sir?” This is Colonel Shoup,” he said.Silence again.“Sir?...

My company, a major metropolitan newspaper, used to host an annual Christmas party for employees. But, this year, the paper broke with tradition, hosting instead a “holiday party,” so as not to offend the sensibilities of those that do not believe Christ the Son of the God. Well, I respect the Constitutionally-protected right of every American to practice a religion other than Christianity, the faith of this nation’s founders. Or to practice no religion whatsoever (which I suspect of many, if not most of my journalistic peers). What I find objectionable, though, is the insistence of non-Christians that the holiday...

The DC Chapter held its Christmas Party on Saturday, December 17. The day started out with our weekly Saturday morning Support the Troop Rally in Olney. Weather was great - in the upper 40s. We had 8 FReepers and Legionnaires in attendance. We then gathered at Lurker Bill’s for the party. This is Lurker Bill and Paula’s 3rd year hosting the Chapter’s Christmas Party. And they were ready for us. This year they were so well organized that they did not have to rush around. They were able to enjoy themselves. We had 25 FReepers and spouses in attendance. We...

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The carton below is from Soviet Communist Russian times. You can see how the capitalist system is depicted as slavery - the opposite of how communism works, IE., free money, multiplied and returned to the worker - in the right frame. Tell me Obama does not think differently. And, as many Americans kill off Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus, so the Soviets replaced Saint Nick with "Father Frost" - a man who gives out presents because he is a generous communist. From Wikipedia Ded Moroz "Following the Russian Revolution, Christmas traditions were actively discouraged because they...

Most Americans still prefer signs in stores that say “Merry Christmas” rather than ones with “Happy Holidays.” A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 68% of American Adults prefer Merry Christmas. Just 23% like Happy Holidays instead.

‘Gang fight’ at Black Friday sale… Man Punched in Face Pulls Gun On Line-Cutting Shopper…Shots fired outside WALMART…Shoppers smash through door at URBAN OUTFITTERS…Customers run over in parking lot… [Scroll down -TSR]Woman busted after throwing merchandise…Thousands storm VICTORIA’S SECRET…VIDEO: Insane battle over phones… [Theme from "Superjail" started to run through my head as I watched this -TSR]Mayhem at Nebraska mall where 9 murdered in 2007…Shoplifter tries to mace security guards… [Scroll down -TSR]Men Steal Boy’s Shopping Bag Outside BED, BATH & BEYOND…

Dear Friend, As the Christmas shopping season begins full swing, AFA has prepared its annual "Naughty or Nice" retailer list. We have taken the top 100 national retailers and reviewed their websites, media advertising and in-store signage in an effort to help you know which companies are Christmas-friendly. Over the past seven years, your AFA has stood firm in the "War on Christmas." Companies who used to refuse to acknowledge Christmas now have Christmas "shops" inside their stores. Many of them now liberally use "Christmas" in their advertising and in-store signage. Sadly, there are still some companies which refuse to...

Merry Christmas to all my fellow Freepers. May the new year bring you good health and peace of mind (especially next November!).

I just started a new facebook page as a place for grassroots conservatives to urge Virginia to allow the leading Republican contender for the presidency onto the Virginia ballot. Gingrich is the Republican leader nationwide and in Virginia! It's absolutely ludicrous, if not criminal, for Virginia to deny the conservative base and tea party favorite a spot on the ballot while they promote their elite ruling class RINO! Do not allow Virginia to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of conservative grassroots voters who would mark their ballots for Newt Gingrich! Adding insult to injury, they don't even allow write-ins on their...

As we come to the end of another year, please take a moment and reflect on what is truly important in our lives, and what we have to be ever so thankful for.Thanks for all the great people on Free Republic.Thanks for the people trying to restore America to its' greatness, with the blessings of God.Thanks to our Saviour, who gives meaning to our lives, and an eternal home after this one has long disappeared.

Merry Christmas Freepers

MYFOXNY.COM - Christmas trees and other decorations aren't allowed on display in the Staten Island ferry terminal this year because the city didn't want to deal with the prospect of lawsuits. But one Staten Island resident and self-described activist and artist decided to make a statement and bring a tree and put it on display. But to do that, he had to become the tree. Scott Lobaido dressed up like a Christmas tree and brought smiles and laughs to people's faces on Friday at the St. George terminal.

Being Jewish I an not offended by all the Christmas cheer. To me it means in spite of all the serious problems out there, there is hope. And we can respect each other's religious and spiritual viewpoints and air and share, debate and argue our opinions WITHOUT any help from the ACLU, People for the American Way and esp. the gov't. So a heartfelt MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy Hannukah to the staff at Free Republic and to all my FReinds here! Yes, even the trolls, lurkers and site pests, in the hope that they one day wise up and learn...

Americans overwhelmingly prefer the traditional “Merry Christmas” greeting over the “Happy Holidays” that some stores and businesses require their employees to utilize at this time of year.  A new Marist Poll of 1,026 adults nationwide finds that 64 percent – nearly two-thirds – think the appropriate greeting should be “Merry Christmas,” while 31 percent favored “Happy Holidays.” The sentiment was strongest in the Midwest (70 percent) -- but income level made no difference -- with the same level of support (64 percent) for those who made under $50,000 as those who made over $50,000 a year. People 45 or older...

WASHINGTON, DC, December 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - This year, the Christmas wars are coming to Capitol Hill. Members of the House of Representatives have been banned from using the phrase “Merry Christmas” in any “franked,” or taxpayer-funded, correspondence to their constituents, but have been told that “Happy Holidays” is permissible. A December 12 memo from the Franking Commission Staff reported by the Washington Examiner noted that the “Franking Manual” already bans using taxpayer-funded postage for correspondence whose sole purpose is to mark special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, births, retirements, or holidays. This year, however, members are being told...

At Christmas families celebrate a Savior descending to redeem fallen man. Gifts get no bigger, but for holiday fun, let’s right some nagging worldly wrongs. Without claiming to have been good, here’s my Christmas list: •More Inequality •Less Government I’d eliminate poverty too, but capitalism already has. Shepherds and stable boys fare better materially than anyone except perhaps tax collectors when Christ came. The lingering poor are primarily recent immigrants or fresh graduates only beginning to savor the fruits of market bounty; people enslaved to addictions or those Washington pays to remain perpetually destitute. Caesar continues taxing us onerously and...

The year was 1919, one year after the end of World War I, and the people of Atlanta, Georgia were celebrating the Christmas Season.

Yes America, There is a Santa Claus By: Amy Lutz In 1897, a young girl named Virginia wrote a letter to The New York Sun, asking if Santa Claus did in fact exist. Newsman Francis Pharcellus Church responded with a now-famous editorial entitled “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” Virginia worried, since she had neither seen Santa Claus nor did she possess tangible proof of his existence, that the jolly man was not real. Francis Church reminded Virginia, and all of us, that seeing is not believing. We must first have faith and believe in the existence of Santa...

Members of the House of Representatives are being told that no holiday greetings, including “Merry Christmas,” can be sent out in official mail. According to the Washington Examiner, members who submit official mailings for review by the congressional franking commission that reviews all congressional mail to determine if it can be "franked," or paid for with tax dollars, are being told that no holiday greetings, including "Merry Christmas," can be sent. "I called the commission to ask for clarification and was told no 'Merry Christmas.' Also told cannot say 'Happy New Year' but can say 'have a happy new year'...

Enjoy! Pretty clever.

Feel free to personally wish him Merry Christmas here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abu-Mussab-Wajdi-Akkari-Official/123179511075285

Christmas in America is a season of time-honored traditions: The sacred performance of the annual ACLU lawsuit over the presence of an insufficiently secular "holiday" tree. The ritual provocations of the atheist displays licensed by pitifully appeasing municipalities to sit between the menorah and the giant Frosty the Snowman. The familiar strains of every hack columnist's "war on Christmas" column rolling off the keyboard as easily as Richard Clayderman playing "Winter Wonderland" ... This year has been a choice year. A crucified skeleton Santa Claus was erected as part of the "holiday" display outside the Loudoun County courthouse in Virginia...

This is a prime example of the way “the few� can ruin it for “the many.� Because a few parents have sent their kids to school bearing over-the-top presents for Teacher, the State of Alabama Ethics Commission has decided that some Christmas gifts equate to bribes. A new ruling from the Commission prohibits teachers from accepting certain gifts, including gift cards, hams and turkeys. The Washington Post’s Janice D’Arcy has more: Many states and some individual schools ask that parents and teachers respect certain gift-giving guidelines, but Alabama’s law is far tougher than most. A teacher who is caught in...

So it is about time for me to start shopping for Christmas and I ask help from other FReepers on what stores, web sites, etc. to shop at or avoid if they take Christ out of Christmas. This year I am adding a new addition to my list - if your company supports OWS with donations, food, etc. You are dead to me! I support the right to protest but when cops are attacked and other companies businesses suffer, I will not buy from your company! JMHO

Hanukkah may have ended over 2 weeks ago, Kwanzaa week may have just begun, and New Years may still be 6 days away, but major retailers have once again started their "After Holiday" sales on December 26. Retailers that went to great lengths to avoid using the word Christmas, in favor of the more inclusive term "Holidays", now seem to not care that many holidays are still to come while others ended long ago. Companies such as Barnes and Nobel as well as Old navy/Gap went to such extremes to avoid using the term Christmas that they ended up being...

This December, on courthouse lawns and other public places across America, you’ll see decorative lights, Santa and his reindeer, snowmen, “holiday trees,” and maybe even an angel or two. The only guest who’ll probably be missing from this birthday party is the guest of honor himself. Oddly, there’s even room for elves, tin soldiers, candy canes, and sugarplums — just no room for Christ. The lunacy of celebrating a holiday called Christmas that commemorates the birth of Christ without recognizing Christ could only happen in the philosophically inconsistent but politically correct America. Think of it: You can openly celebrate Christmas...

Another Christmas come and gone without Muslime Terrorists Horde attacking... can't you find anybody stooopid enough to suicide-bomb themselves for you? can't you find anybody stooopid enough to suicide-shoot up a mall full of decadent western shoppers for you?? no???

Luke 2: 1-20 The Story of Christ's Birth And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David), to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being with...

Merry Christmas, My Friend By James M. Schmidt, a Marine Lance Corporal stationed in Washington, D.C., in 1986 Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone, In a one bedroom house made of plaster & stone. I had come down the chimney, with presents to give and to see just who in this home did live As I looked all about, a strange sight I did see, no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree. No stocking by the fire, just boots filled with sand. On the wall hung pictures of a far distant land. With medals and badges,...

Merry Christmas everyone.

Just wondering if anyone else out there is spending the evening alone. Not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sipping a cappuccino and taking in "A Christmas Story" in the old man cave. I'll be with family tomorrow, but as of tonight, it's my faithful Boxer and me. And Ralphie.

   *Norad Santa Tracker* ***** ~ Canteen Music Dedication ~ *****~ Support The Artists ~   Support the artists you hear throughout the Canteen! Click on the links below! Keep the music going! ArtistDirect l  Internet Radio l  AOL Music l  Sonique (Lycos) l  Real Radio Live365 l  971TheRiver  l  GotRadio  l  Wherehouse  l  Target  l Shoutcast AFRTS l  VH1 l XM Radio l  BET l  audiophile l  Virgin Radio l  Soma (Alternative) Acaza l AudioRealm l VH1 l  Yahoo! Launch Music l  Radio Disney l  Live-Radio Net ITunes l Amazon l Salsa Radio l MTV l CMT l...

Christmas is a time of sharing with family and friends. For Todd and me, that means spending time with our children, parents, grandparents, and siblings, gratefully acknowledging God’s blessings and sharing them with the people we love. Ronald Reagan said Christmas was a “state of mind, found throughout the year whenever faith overcomes doubt, hope conquers despair, and love triumphs over hate.” On this Christmas Eve, let’s be thankful that we live in a country known for striving to embody these values. And let’s be grateful for the brave men and women in uniform who have fought to defend...

Underpants for the hands and other unspeakables among the holiday horrors for presents...

Nineteen of 20 U.S. residents celebrate Christmas, including 80 percent of non-Christians... A majority of those surveyed said their celebrations include religious activities, with 62 percent going to church on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, 65 percent including religious symbols in their decorations and 78 percent saying they take some time to reflect on Christ's birth.

The archaeology of North Africa remains enigmatic, with questions of population continuity versus discontinuity taking centre-stage. Debates have focused on population transitions between the bearers of the Middle Palaeolithic Aterian industry and the later Upper Palaeolithic populations of the Maghreb, as well as between the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Results: Improved resolution of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup U6 phylogeny, by the screening of 39 new complete sequences, has enabled us to infer a signal of moderate population expansion using Bayesian coalescent methods. To ascertain the time for this expansion, we applied both a mutation rate accounting for purifying selection...

I just hope that in November 2012 we will elect Sarah Palin as President!

Dearest FReepers, It is with my fondest of wishes that you have a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah this holiday season. For my atheist friends, may the kindness and generosity of Christmas cross your doorstep. There is no finer place on the Internet than Free Republic. It is the coup de grace of the coup de tat. I have said it before and I’ll say it again, "Free Republic has some of the finest minds I’ll ever know." There is no better place that offers the best examples of Christmas than this great forum. There is no better example of...

      THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement Clarke Moore Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads; And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed...

Really, REALLY nice new Christmas music video from the typically red meat JoeDanMedia. "Merry Christmas (Peace on Earth)"