Free Republic

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,...

Christmas tour ban http://community.emeraldcoast.com/onset?id=14246&template=article.html March 19, 2007 - 9:50AM City Manager Lannie Corbin did the right thing when he told the Christmas Lady to stop giving tours of her home, City Council members said earlier this week. Debbie Lewis, aka the Christmas Lady, has been decorating her home and giving tours for the past five years. More than 5,000 people visited her home on Duncan Drive during the Christmas season last year, Corbin said. Neighbors complained about traffic and congestion, he said. Meetings and talk of moving the Christmas display to somewhere out of a residential area did not get...

December 26, 2006 Fast Track to Hell: Stealing From a Church on Christmas At Christmas Mass at the Church of St. Mel in Flushing, Queens, robbers stole a money box with $20,000. The money, collected from three Christmas Eve Masses and the 7:30AM Christmas Mass and meant for church expenses and needy children, was kept in a 100 pound money box. The robbers hit around 9:20AM and witnesses saw men putting the box into an SUV with Vermont license plates. A parishioner did take the license plate number and give it to the police (the SUV belongs to a NYC...

'Santa Claus does not exist' school tells stunned kids A primary school has been accused of spoiling Christmas for pupils after a lesson telling them that Santa Claus does not exist. Children as young as nine were told that only 'small children believe in Father Christmas'. And yesterday their parents criticised teachers for taking the 'magic' out of the festive period. The blunder came after the Year 5 pupils were given seasonal worksheets containing various festive classroom exercises. One began by informing the children that 'many small children believe in Father Christmas'. It then went on to explain that thousands...

Why are we compelled to partake in the culture war when we would much rather just enjoy the Christmas season like countless generations before us? G.K. Chesterton put it best...

The Liberals are stealing Christmas. They will deny it, but they are. Political Correctness dictates that people can't wish eachother "Merry Christmas" in public. Libs will tell you that they just don't want religious symbolism in public but people are allowed to "practice ANY religion or holliday they want." How do I do that? This is where Liberal thinking gets pretty abstract. Do I walk past people on the street and think "that guy just mentally wished me Merry Christmas?" If I move to Africa, I definitely expect them to stop celebrating Kwanzaa because I'm there. Or how about in...

My parents who are in their seventies, retired, and on Social Security stopped at Walmart on US Hwy 80 in Mesquite, TX to get gas. After paying at the pump with a Walmart Gift Card and retrieving the receipt, the woman in the booth comes over the speaker and asks him how he intends to pay. My Dad tells her he has already paid and shows her the receipt through the window. They argue a bit, then she asks him to see the $500 Walmart Gift Card. Instead of telling her to buzz off, he hands her the card. She...

David Corn of "The Nation" was just on Fox, scolding viewers for trying to enjoy the holidays while we are at war in Iraq. Picking-up on the New York Times' latest rant, Corn glared into the camera and grimly reiterated the message from "Putz" Sulzberger and his staff of leftist trust babies: 'How dare you shop and enjoy the holidays while we are involved in a war of which we at the Times personally disapprove?' LOL! And "Don't Tread on Me!"

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has drafted legislation that would grant soon-to-be-unemployed Republicans severance pay while they look for jobs after Democrats take over control of the chamber on Jan. 4, according to a senior Democratic aide. Democratic aides have kept details of the proposed severance package secret, such as how much former Republican aides would receive and who would be eligible for compensation. And it is not certain that Pelosi will introduce the resolution on the House floor at all. But one House Democrat said that Pelosi is leaning toward compensating outgoing aides to keep Republicans remaining on...

Every time I sign back on here and try to post, all I get is a screen that says my account is banned. I sign up another account and the same thing happens again. What am I doing wrong?

WASHINGTON -- The National Security Agency, in carrying out President Bush's order to intercept the international phone calls and e-mails of Americans suspected of links to Al Qaeda, has probably been using computers to monitor all other Americans' international communications as well, according to specialists familiar with the workings of the NSA. The Bush administration and the NSA have declined to provide details about the program the president authorized in 2001, but specialists said the agency serves as a vast data collection and sorting operation. It captures reams of data from satellites, fiberoptic lines, and Internet switching stations, and then...

LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas. Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only. But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums. Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week. One of her assignments was to read Clement C. Moore’s famous poem, “A Visit from...

If you were feeling a bit empty this Christmas holiday season because the secular greetings issued from the White House left you a little bit empty, we have a special treat for you, guaranteed to fill you up with all the love and warmth that is the Democrat Holiday Spirit. Nobody should ever have to suffer the annual pangs of winter holiday capitalism without the joy and peace brought about by the happy Christmas holiday donkey. WOW! Now that's what I call Christmas Holiday Spirit! How could I possibly have made it through this Christmas holiday season without that...

Grinchy remark sends kids home in tears By RORY SCHULER Staff Writer Lebanon Daily News LICKDALE — Jamey Schaeffer stretched her mouth open wide, showing off a pair of twin gaps in her smile. With a mouthful of fingers, she said she has no interest in two front teeth for Christmas. Instead, she’d like a Barbie doll from Santa Claus — and Santa Claus only. But a substitute music teacher almost came between the 6-year-old and a Christmas Eve spent dancing cheek to cheek with sugar plums. Theresa Farrisi stood in for Schaeffer’s regular music teacher one day last week....

Is a school in Medway stealing Christmas? That's what some parents claim. The Medway Middle School ordered children not to sing any religious songs in Friday's holiday concert. Students were also told to refer to Christmas trees as magical trees. Red hats have also been banned. The move comes after two parents complained about references to Christmas in the program. The Superintendent Richard Grandmont told the Milford Daily News that the town is embracing diversity. But one parent said he's disturbed that students can't sing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." Instead, they have to sing "We Wish You A...

The pendulum swings both ways. Last year in Denver, it was Mayor John Hickenlooper proposing to replace the city's traditional "Merry Christmas" sign with one that said "Happy Holidays." The mayor wisely backed off in response to the public outcry, as did the Parade of Lights, this year, reversing its policy barring religious floats. Earlier this month, Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, issued a directive instructing the architect of the Capitol to drop the name "Capitol Holiday Tree" - adopted in the late 1990s under the authority of no one who's now willing to admit to it -...

Residents across the state are offering cash, tools and even cars to a Good Samaritan whose landscaping truck was stolen Tuesday while he rescued a family from their overturned vehicle on Highway 4. The Highway Patrol office in Martinez and the Times have fielded dozens of phone calls from people who want to help 30-year-old Nelson Santos replace his stolen truck and equipment. "Someone is offering him their (Toyota) 4Runner," said CHP Officer Scott Yox. "My phone hasn't stopped ringing today." Calls have come in from all over the Bay Area and as far away as San Diego. One man...

The Christmas grinch revisited ------------------------------------------------------- Posted: December 14, 2005 © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com By Burt Prelutzky Nothing that I have ever written has provoked as huge a response as a piece I wrote recently called "The Jewish grinch who stole Christmas." ( SEE HERE : http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47775 ) In the article, which brought me roughly 10 times as much e-mail as I'm accustomed to, I suggested that my fellow Jews were at the forefront in waging war on the values and traditions of Christian Americans. Predictably enough, the response from gentiles was uniformly positive. The feedback from Jews was somewhat less positive,...

Employee's at the Lady Luck Casino and Hotel have run out of luck. From front desk clerks, to card dealers, 125 employees were terminated from their jobs on Monday and hundreds more will lose their jobs in the coming weeks. The Lady Luck casino says the terminations are necessary because of a massive remodeling and renovation project that will close the entire hotel and casino for at least one year. Dozens of employees were called together Monday morning to attend a mandatory meeting. Many of them left with their walking papers. At the meeting, 125 employees were told they were...

Washington-The ACLU named a new chairman today as it enter into its annual "war on small towns with limited budgets" season. The new chairman, former Congressman "The Grinch" (D-Mount Crumpit) pledged to continue the ACLU's attack on Christmas with renewed vigor. Reporters for the mainstream media and members of the ACLU teared up as he explained how he was marginalized by all the Whos down in Whoville who (selfishly and without regard for other viewpoints) dared to like Christmas a lot, because he did not. The Grinch pledged to move beyond manger scenes in the ACLU's, seeking to stamp...

San Francisco officials decided Wednesday to keep open a lot that has been used to sell Christmas trees during the holidays for the past 40 years. The five-member Board of Appeals unanimously voted to turn down resident Monio Pilpel's appeal of city permits that allow Cyril Hackett and his family to sell trees at the corner of Sloat Boulevard and 19th Avenue before Christmas. Hackett's popular lot is also transformed into a pumpkin patch around Halloween. The case drew an emotional standing-room crowd to City Hall, with most supporting Hackett's claim that the lot is a city "tradition." Hackett will...

SAN FRANCISCO -- City officials are set to decide tonight whether to shut down a lot that has been used to sell Christmas trees during the holidays for the past 40 years. The Board of Appeals, which meets at 5 p.m. at City Hall, will take up resident Monio Pilpel's appeal of city permits that allow Cyril Hackett and his family to sell trees at the corner of Sloat Boulevard and 19th Avenue before Christmas, and to transform the spot into a pumpkin patch around Halloween. Pilpel has complained that during the eight months of the year the lot isn't...

video low speed Video hi speed (WSBT) The Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation is finding itself in a Christmas controversy One grandmother says she was stunned to find out the district no longer uses the word Christmas to describe the holiday season. Instead, it uses “winter holiday” to describe the December break and other holiday activities. Now Vicki Metzger has started a petition drive to bring the word Christmas back to the schools. “I have many people signing this petition, because many people feel as I do,” Metzger told NEWS22. “These children have a right to celebrate Christmas and know what the...

In city halls and public parks across the country, stories-high evergreens are being erected and decked with glowing lights and sparkling ornaments. They look - and smell - like Christmas trees. But not so fast. In places as varied as Chicago, Reno and Prairie Village, Kan., they're "holiday" trees. In other spots, such as Atlanta, they have no name at all. This year, the tree-name game has sparked a backlash, with some Americans crying humbug and Christian groups threatening lawsuits over what they say is religious discrimination. Perhaps the most heated debate is brewing in Boston. The city's Parks and...

A mall in Massachusetts issued an apology after a 4-year-old girl was apparently told she was not allowed to sit on Santa's lap unless she purchased a $21 picture of the meeting, according to a Local 6 News report. Maria Grigorian said she took her daughter, Michelle, to the North Shore Mall in Peabody to visit Santa Claus. However, when the 4-year-old got to the front of the line, she was not allowed to sit on Santa's lap because her mother did not have cash to pay for the picture. Grigorian said the least expensive photo offered was $21. "I...

WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) -- City and county attorneys are defending Wheeling police who arrested a man for wearing a Grinch mask while walking along a city street. Norman Eugene Gray, 42, was arrested Tuesday. He was arraigned and released on a personal recognizance bond. Officers saw Gray about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, told him to take the mask off and not put it on again. Gray removed it and asked why he could not wear it, according to Wheeling police reports. Officers told him wearing masks in public is illegal. Gray said he felt he had a right to wear it...

She calls herself "Satanta." And she's on a mission this holiday season to urge people to turn a blind eye to those glittering mall windows, to forget about making a wish list, to just say no to Hallmark and above all, to resist Christmas. While some people may think she's a Grinch, 36-year-old cartoonist and animator Nina Paley, mother of the Christmas Resistance Movement, says she actually used to be a devotee of the holiday. That is, until it let her down repeatedly. "I love the idea of Christmas," Paley said, speaking from her home in Brooklyn, New York, where...

I'm sitting here, with the wife and kids, being subjected to the festering sore of a movie that is the Ron Howard/Jim Carrey version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."Without a doubt, this is the worst Christmas movie of all time...worse than "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"...worse than "Jingle all the Way"...in fact it's worse than all twenty-four hours of the twenty-four hour "Jingle All the Way" marathon on FX.This movie is the worst because it is terrible on many levels, small and large. First off, it is loud, noisy and deliberately disjointed in the way that too many written...

Are numerous other counties counting previously rejected ballots? No. Case made by Secretary of State and Democrats is wrong Seattle, WA – Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed and Democratic leadership have proclaimed that King County is not alone in counting numerous ballots that were previously rejected by county canvassing boards. However the claims are untrue. In Chelan and Thurston counties, each reconsidered one previously rejected ballot. “Two counties, two ballots,” said Washington State Republican Party Chair Chris Vance. “That’s it.” While King County is revisiting hundreds upon hundreds of ballots that were previously rejected – not once but twice...

Republican emotions were inflamed by party chairman Chris Vance, who blamed King County elections officials, democrats, and even those 700 plus voters for this situation. Once again, he demanded their votes not be counted, and left the door open for calling for a whole new election if they are. "If there's another outcome or another decision and questionable or illegal ballots are brought into the process, we reserve all of our options," he said. . . . Democrat candidate Chris Gregoire said voter trust will be eroded more by disqualifying legitimate ballots than correcting mistakes by elections officials and counting...

It’s appallingly looking NOT like Christmas Ev’rywhere you go: Leftists are at it once again, using their anchormen On a campaign to spread disdain you know. Yes, it’s that time of year again…when socialists, atheists, and malcontents (AKA – members of the ACLU and all who support the positions it advocates) get together to conspire – not necessarily by the fire, mind you – to spoil everybody’s good time. Let’s see what they’ve accomplished so far this Christmas season (yes, I said “Christmas” – sue me!): Federated Department Stores – you know, of Macy’s and Miracle on 34th Street fame...

CHICAGO -- A suburban school bus driver claims she was pulled from her route because she objected to an "anti-Christ" song listed in the school's holiday program. The Herald News reported Friday that Plainfield's Central School officials say the driver was taken off the route because she passed out unauthorized fliers along her route criticizing the program. Carmen Brown said she was reprimanded by the First Student Bus Company for handing out unapproved fliers she had made up encouraging people to boycott the school's holiday program because it included the song, "I Hate This Holiday." Brown, who has a son...

"So far, we have gotten calls from as far away as California from people wanting boots for the Inauguration," said Walter Pie, president of the Pinto Ranch Fine Western Wear, just down the road from where former President George Bush lives in Houston. "Especially from women." "The boots sell for between $1,000 and $3,000, with the all-alligator skin model going for $6,000." Indeed!! How can we as a Nation look ourselves in the mirror while plans are coming together to squander millions and millions of dollars -- both public and private -- on galas; parades; travel, meal, and lodging expenses;...

BELLEVUE -- The latest flare-up over Christmas trees in public places has longtime Bellevue chiropractor and resident Sidney Stock protesting the large tree standing in the lobby of City Hall. The tree is a symbol of Christianity, Stock and his wife, Jennifer, told City Council members this week. They said it is inappropriate to display symbols of any religion in a public place. Their objection follows a recent flap over Christmas trees at branch libraries in the King County Library System, which first banned trees then decided to allow them at the discretion of branch librarians. ``I think it's inappropriate,''...

CENSORING CHRISTMAS IN THE WORKPLACECatholic League president William Donohue commented today on attempts to censor Christmas in the workplace: “The University of Alabama’s Office of Cultural Diversity recommends that all nativity scenes should be banned because they are ‘religion-centered.’ The menorah, which is a Jewish religious symbol, is ‘fine’ because it is really a ‘secular’ symbol. Employees are also instructed to ‘avoid confronting others from different religions about their beliefs.’ Failure to do so may result in ‘unintentional oppression or hostilities.’ They actually said this.“An attorney at Strauss & Troy in Cincinnati warns that ‘if the workplace is permeated with...

Minneapolis-based Target Corp.'s decision this fall to stop allowing Salvation Army bell ringers at its stores has turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Lake County Salvation Army. Capt. Diana Williams said she lost three locations with Target's decision, and touched off a search prior to the start of the kettle drive to find replacement sites at other stores. She looked at corporations the Salvation Army already knew would allow bell ringers, and contacted the local stores. The result - seven new sites for a net gain of four. Salvation Army now operates 27 bell-ringer locations in...

ST. LOUIS -- Organizers of a Christmas tree sale supporting youth hockey programs figured that a tree or two might get swiped from their outdoor lot after-hours. What they hadn't counted on was someone stealing more than 90 Christmas trees or the random acts of kindness that followed. Others in the area have step forward, dropping off additional trees or donating money since last weekend's theft. Tire tracks on a nearby field were the only clue about how the trees, worth about $3,000, were taken. ``The kids don't deserve it,'' said Erica Parks, the fund-raising director for the Affton Athletic...

Okay .... Hope this isn't considered too self serving but here goes..... HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS, PART DEUX 2004 EVERY WHO DOWN IN WHOVILLE LIKED CHRISTMAS A LOT, BUT THE GRINCH, WHO LIVED JUST NORTH OF WHOVILLE, DID NOT. THE GRINCH HATED CHRISTMAS THE WHOLE CHRISTMAS SEASON NO ONE KNOWS WHY, NO ONE KNOWS QUITE THE REASON. IT COULD HAVE BEEN THAT THE GRINCH WAS JEW, BUT HE WASN’T THE GRINCH SIMPLY HATED EACH WHO.

It wasn't a silent night for the Scrooges at ACLU, but for a nice change it was a holy night. Christian Wire Service today reported glad tidings: The conservative group Public Advocate of the United States, "not dissuaded from 'bah, humbugs' to groups like the Boy Scouts of America and pro-family Americans in general," sang traditional religious Christmas carols in front of the Washington office of American Civil Liberties Union.