Free Republic

It is no secret that America is polarized. This is a fact that is manifested in so many different ways. Traveling down the highway to Chicago, for example, I came upon two successive billboards that I thought were striking examples of our divided culture. The first billboard caught me by surprise: it consisted of an electrocardiogram of a heart that suddenly stops beating. The caption read: When you die, you will meet God. As we were passing through the snowy night, I was unable to catch more details of this billboard. I do not know who put it out or...

Yes. Christmas is celebrated in China. Surprise! In fact, it is celebrated all over China, from the biggest “Westernized Cities” such as Hong Kong and Shanghai to the lowest village in the Hunan mountains. It is celebrated with vigor. Let’s talk about Chinese Christmas. Now, American Christmas is different than a Chinese Christmas. There are many reasons for this. The big one is that Christmas is being phased out by mega-corporations. Of course, there is a big progressive anti-Christmas purge prevalent in the United States today. Thank you Barrack Obama. By the rabid success of it, you might get the...

Commercialism versus true meaning has been an ongoing battle for years when it comes to religious holidays, and Easter is no exception. In the eyes of many, chocolate bunnies and Easter egg hunts are much too recognized in the place of a sunrise service on Easter morning ... especially when it comes to children who may be easily influenced by commercialism. So, is there enough room to balance the commercial aspect and biblical meaning behind Easter? The Aiken Standard posed this question to pastors and Christian leaders in the local community. Battling the distractions For the Rev. Douglas Slaughter, pastor...

Here is the latest skirmish in the ongoing Defining Deviancy Down, to borrow from the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. At WalMart today, I saw for the 3rd or fourth time an in-the-aisle display of KY's latest product, "Date Night." It even has its own link at WalMart.com. It looks like KY is marketing the daylights out of this product (npi), which includes discounts on movie tickets. Call me old-fashioned (no, that's not an action item) but is this the right message to pass on to the general public? Where's the decorum? The concern for the children? Is Nancy Reagan's...

Did it seem odd to you that even the Fox all-star panel would have us believe that the President with the most micromanaged image in recent memory had no control or influence whatsoever over the preparation, format, and tenor etc. of the commercialized, pep rally memorial we witnessed this week, and that the White House can blame the embarrassment entirely on the University of Arizona? The entire event was about Captain Greek Columns - who gave a half hour speech – and his time to shine and show off his magical healing abilities. Togethere We Thrive” sure sounded a lot...

Run for the hills. The official Woodstock "brand" is approaching America like a big hallucination.

Next week, Burger King kicks off a major ad campaign that involves a unique twist on the tried-and-true marketing technique of taste testing. The campaign is already generating controversy. One ad, set to begin airing Monday, features images of villagers in traditional garb choosing the Whopper over the Big Mac. A Transylvanian woman, an Inuit tribesman from the Icelandic tundra and others point and, in their native tongues, declare their preference for Burger King's flagship product. Burger King says it was trying to find "Whopper Virgins," which is also the name of its campaign. "We wanted to see how the...

An open letter to the people of France: Bonjour! We in America are still very thankful for the Statue of Liberty. She is a fine lady. She still stands for freedom and huddled masses and all of that. But let's face it, she needed to dress for a baseball game like everyone else here. So we thought you should know that we have taken a few, um, liberties. Major League Baseball announced more details Thursday about the "Statues on Parade" that will have everyone talking. It is going to be the most amazing celebration of the Statue of Liberty since...

A new energy drink doesn't promise to give you the juice to play guitar like Jimi Hendrix, but it does hope to give you a "Liquid Experience." Beverage Concepts says its nonalcoholic "Liquid Experience" drinks, named for Hendrix's breakthrough album, "Are You Experienced?" will debut in April. The concept is irking some Hendrix fans, many of whom still consider him the greatest guitarist of all time. "To see his image and the beautiful feelings it has created during my lifetime cheapened by base advertising ... is very disappointing to me," said bassist Michael Balzary, better known as Flea of the...

About 40 drunken Santas rioted in New Zealand, robbing stores, toppling garbage bins, smashing bottles and assaulting security guards. Wearing Santa Claus costumes, they rampaged yesterday afternoon through central city streets in Auckland and vandalised a giant Christmas tree in the foyer of the Sky City Casino, the Herald on Sunday reported. They were taking part in an organised example of "Santarchy", Alex Dyer told the paper, describing it as "a worldwide phenomenon designed to dismantle the commercialisation of Christmas". Three men were arrested on charges of being drunk and disorderly, and two security guards needed medical treatment for cuts...

(AgapePress) - You win some -- and you lose some. That adage seems to apply appropriately to one group's ongoing efforts to keep "Christ" in Christmas, at least on the retail front. According to the founder of Mississippi-based American Family Association (AFA), it is apparent that at least one retailer -- Walgreen's -- has gotten the message that it is not in their best interest to continue avoiding use of the phrase "Merry Christmas" in its advertising campaigns and in-store promotions. Speaking earlier today (Dec. 1) on American Family Radio, Donald E. Wildmon said an AFA supporter had heard from...

Seasonal smells of success By Edward Hudgins Executive Director: The Objectivist Center & Atlas Society November 24, 2005 American homes today will waft with more than the aroma of turkey and pumpkin pie. Also in the air will be the joy at the start of the holiday season from Thanksgiving to Christmas through New Years. As temperatures turn cold outdoors, we'll warm ourselves inside and out with gatherings of friends and family, festivities, parties and presents. Inevitably, this season also gives rise to queries about the "true meaning" of this or that holiday, usually with complaints about the season's superficiality....

Every year, as predictable as the arrival of the winter solstice is the arrival of criticism about the commercialization of Christmas. We are told by well meaning killjoys that Christ and all religious meaning have been taken out of Christmas because Americans spend too much money on Christmas gifts and because stores have rendered Christmas little more than a great time to sell product. If there is a better example of people complaining about something that is overwhelmingly good and wholesome, I would like to know what it is. During one period of time each year, the great majority of...

Sunday, December 21, 2003 good will reprinted from last year. Is Christmas too "commercial?" The parking lots were full today. Today, and in prior days, busy people took time out from their busy schedules, and, using money they usually work pretty hard for (or will in the future), they thought of people besides themselves. They studied things and shopped and dealt with crowds and fatigue and spent more than they know they should have, seeking just the right gifts; frivolous with time and money. And frivolous with Good Will, if there can be such a thing. But I think there...

Well, Halloween is over and the retailers in the United States have already started hawking the latest gizmos for Christmas. Ah, who am I kidding, they have been doing it since June but it seems to grate on me just a bit more now that we are preparing for Thanksgiving, the forgotten holiday. Suddenly, a holiday that encompasses everything that we should be doing, giving thanks for all of the good things we have in our lives and giving the narcissism that sometimes creeps into them a rest, stands overshadowed by the force-fed industrialism of our retail community. Never before...

Susan Linn knows children's television. She began her career in children's entertainment, where her work included several appearances with her puppets working on "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" with the late Fred Rogers. "I've always had a really strong interest to use media to promote the health and well-being of children," said Linn, a psychologist at Harvard University's Judge Baker Children's Center. She said Rogers was a "really good example of somebody who conducted a career in television without selling out" to commercialism. As commercialism in the form of sponsored sports teams, billboards and soda machines creeps into more schools, Linn and...

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: The News Bizarre Dec. 12, 2002, 2:53PM Santa Claus gets icy reception in Austria Associated Press Associated Press Margit Hammerl and Horst Strauss, members of the Pro-Christkind (Pro-Christ Child) Society, pose in front of a nativity scene at a Vienna Christmas market with Pro-Christkind stickers on their jackets. VIENNA, Austria -- Ho, ho, ho? No, no, no! Santa Claus is coming to town -- and many Austrians wish he'd just stay home. The jolly old elf is getting an icy reception in this alpine country that gave the world "Silent Night" and clings to beloved Christmas...

There are two cemeteries at the end of the street, one with toppling tombstones and the other quickly filling with ghosts. There is a real cemetery in this typical Canadian community as well, but its natural edginess pales in comparison even to the houses surrounding it. One, for example, has a full skeleton hanging by the neck off a porch beam. And neighbours up and down the street are hurrying to go one better -- a witch in the maple tree? a fogging machine along the walkway? -- before Thursday's Fright Final. No one seems quite sure when Halloween began...

The Constitution Does Not Protect Spamming By ADAM COHEN here's a new television commercial that pulls viewers in with a flurry of poignant phrases: "I love you" . . . "I felt the baby move" . . . "It's benign." The voice-over is a salute to free speech. "All words are created equal," it says. "The power to use them is our right as humans." Has the First Amendment gone out and gotten itself an advertising strategy? Not quite. The ad is for a phone company. The freedom it celebrates is in a calling plan that says "local and long...