[mollynme]

I wonder if this “task force” wears brown shirts?

Check out this thread. CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC has researched the members. He is also going to attempt to speak at the public meeting tonight.

[SwatTeam]

Thanks for the ping. It is becoming more obvious every day that not enough intelligent people are voting in local elections. That is where we have to start getting rid of the socialist, America-hating brown shirts.

[beaversmom]

Good for him—ping us with an update if you have the time.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

YAHOO! WE WON!

Yup, I spoke tonight. And so did 42 others. The overwhelming majority of us spoke against the Task Force's recommendation of: "only white lights outside, no red ribbons on wreaths, and why can't we all just get along and unite as one community around a Mitten Tree?"

Of the half dozen or so who spoke supporting the Task Force, at least 3 of them were liberal members of the Task Force itself! The City Council, having been absolutely inundated with calls and emails and buttonholing on the street, virtually all of it being sentiment against the Task Force, had come up with a third alternative called "the hybrid option".

BTW, there were a number of cops there tonight because of a death threat against the mayor, who happens to be one of 3 conservatives on the 7 member City Council. Ostensibly the call came from a Christmas supporter, but I know it's not unheard of for the Left to fake "anonymous death threats from conservatives" in order to try to push middle of the roaders and even conservatives to react by voting for the liberals. So who knows.

Here were the 3 choices:

1. Keep the policy as is. Colored lights allowed on outside trees on city land and at least one city building (Police HQ), though the main display at Oak St Plaza actually has gone mostly to white in the past few years, but nobody has complained, because it was gradual and unpublicized and it's on the less populous north end of town. Still, there were a few remaining colored light trees on city property last season.
2. Accept Task Force recommendations. No colored lights outside. No red ribbons on wreaths. Colored lights allowed inside but regulated by some (as of yet unwritten) policy. And as a bone to throw to the other side to make them appear even-handed overall: Set up a display of all religions and all secularisms remotely associated with winter (including a nativity, menorah, "mitten tree," etc), and place them at the Ft. Collins Museum, which just happens to be in an out of the way location bounded by seldom-driven streets several blocks from any main drag. I.e. have their cake and eat it too - talk incessantly of how their proposal includes a special place that's wonderfully all-inclusive of everyone, but put it where almost nobody will see it.
3. New "hybrid" option that none of us heard about until tonight, which does a great job of CYA for the City Council by making it look like a compromise between the first two plans, but in reality sounds like a win-win for our side. Because the piece it keeps from Plan #1 is that it continues allowing colored lights, indoors and outdoor, same as the current policy. And the only thing it really borrows from the odious Plan #2 is "the thrown bone" of putting up an all-religions display at the Museum. So the net result is MORE of Christmas being displayed than previously.

The vote was 6 to 1 for the "Hybrid Option".

Nobody voted for Plan #2. They seemed overwhelmed by the response, both locally and nationally. One conservative member moved that the CC go on record as "voting against Plan #2," but nobody seconded it because they apparently wanted to vote FOR something rather than against something.

He also was the only one who didn't vote for #3, apparently because he didn't like the idea of museum staffers (who are city employees) doing justice to a display they were creating for religions they probably have no connection to, or feeling for. He wanted to explore the idea of inviting people from the displayed religions to come create those displays themselves.

A good point, and there was consensus to explore that at some later date. But everyone else, including the other 2 conservatives, wanted to vote tonight on the favored proposal, get it all over with for the near future, and put this nightmare behind them. Good Riddance! - as far as they all were concerned!

There were a few negative comments about Bill O'Reilly. Our (conservative) mayor even made one of these. Allegedly B O'R said something along the lines of, "Fort Collins is banning Christmas! Let's all boycott Ft. Collins!" (though I'm guessing this might be an exaggeration). If he did say it, then I can see why the mayor is "Reilled Up". First of all, the "boycott" quote. Secondly, it was only a task force proposing a recommendation to the CC for consideration, and not a fait accompli by any means.

Also, see my detailed explanation of the makeup of the Task Force in an earlie post to FR.