'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Holiday Season vs. Christmas Miracle
By Baron Dave Romm
Christmas is, perhaps, the most beautiful and accessible of Christian holidays. It celebrates a birth, a new hope, a wish of peace and love, of joy. Oh... and gift giving.
Right now, the religious right has their panties in a bunch because this time of the year is not called "Christmas" but is usually referred to as "The Holiday Season". Well, I'd like to welcome all my Christian friends to this wonderful country called America. Everyone is free to practice their own religion, as long as it doesn't impose on anyone else's freedom. You are free to call "Christmas" whatever you like, including "Christmas". But this country, at the moment primarily comprised of Christian sects, insists on using terms like "The Holiday Season". And the self-proclaimed Christians have no one to blame but themselves.
The shift away from the religious aspects of the holiday began when the first adult lied to a child, "yes, there is a Santa Claus". The child, growing up, cherished trust shattered, become disillusioned. Their parents lied. Can they ever believe anything an authority figure says? Lying to children breeds cynicism, which breeds materialism which takes a beautiful celebration and holds it up for sale. Cognitive Dissonance sets in: If you still trust your parents/the church after being lied to, you'll either reject the teachings of the church or you'll accept other lies. The 9-Commandment Christians believe all sorts of lies, from WMD in Iraq to dismissing global warming to "yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" to rejecting Evolution. They believe lies because it makes them feel more comfortable, like a child on Christmas Eve, when the world wasn't so butt-clenchingly scary. The sheer hypocrisy of the sphincter conservatives is coming back to haunt them.
Or perhaps the slippery slope into cynical commercialism began when the first Christmas Carol was introduced with trade-name lyrics and used to sell products. The mixed message was no longer mixed: Christmas was not about giving, Christmas is about buying.
Or perhaps it was way back in 325CE when the nascent Christian Jewish movement broke from the traditional Jewish religion to adopt pagan holidays of the Roman Empire like those of Constantine's Sol Invictus sect, which celebrated December 25 as Mithra's birthday. Later additions include a bearded jolly fat man in the North Pole, Elves, Evergreen trees, wishing for a White Christmas, and so on. Virtually nothing that we associate with Christmas was ever experienced by Yehoshua or any of his family. Even things mentioned in the New Testament, such as the "manger" and the "Magi" are not definitively described and how we view them is a matter of conjecture that has become tradition. The disconnect between the actual event and the wholesale absorption of other cultures creates further dissonance.
It's not that other cultures are "offended" by Christians talking about Christmas, it's just that someone else's religious customs are not a motivating factor in economic decision making. And therefore, anyone who isn't a Christian (or isn't a Christian anymore), will only respond to the non-stop sensory-overload of pseudo-religious pandering that's necessary for Christians to make a profit. Love of money may be the root of all evil, but it's also the root of all capitalism.
Some of the blame lies with greedy conservatives who are terrible at managing the economy but terrific at stealing your tax money. With the economy poor, businesses have to create a sense of urgency. Each year, the frenzy of retail buying starts earlier and lasts longer. Only a few years ago, Christmas started at Thanksgiving, and stores didn't put their decorations up until the day after. Now, thanks to Bush's failed policies, the Holiday Season starts right after Halloween. We go right from orange to red and white. (And since when did Halloween become such as marketing device?)
If Christians want to wish themselves a Merry Christmas, I have no complaint. If Christians want to wish peace and love for the whole world and want to invoke the birth of their messiah, I thank them. But if they want to insist that anyone spend hard-earned money for a celebration in which they don't believe and/or their parents lied about, they have to have a broader message. And they have to stop whining when their own sins of pride, avarice, gluttony and lust become the holiday. Too many want to go back to when they believed in Santa and they desperately want that present, no matter how much it costs their parents.
So... to all those who celebrate the Birth of Mithra, Yule, Kwanzaa, Hmong New Year, Channukah, Christmas, Saturnalia, Boxing Day and/or the winter solstice, I wish you A Happy Holidays!
And a Happy New Year. But that's a different essay.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. He reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E here, you can order Shockwave Radio Theater CDs, and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio here (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air, and I'm continuing to collect extra-weird stuff.
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Reader Question
Porn Couple
Dear Marty-
Merry Christmas and all that.
I was hoping you could help me out. There is a couple who were missionaries at one time, who now are porn actors. I love that. All I know is that their first names are Melanie and Curtis.
I had no lick...oops...freudian slip...luck with a net search. I think you are much more versed with the computer than I. If you have any luck...let me know...I know you are busy and this is trivial, but I need to know more about these people. I have a respect for people who turn on organized religion and take up fucking...you gotta love it.
love,
Willow
Thanks, Willow!
Doesn't ring a bell, but will probe (heh - I said 'probe') the internets tonight in search of an answer.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Jim Hightower: The Political Jesus
Let's reflect a moment on the moral teaching of this man from Nazareth.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson: King vs. King: Where Would M.L.K. Have Stood on Gay Rights?
The sight of the youngest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. standing at her father's gravesite with thousands of demonstrators to denounce gay marriage was painful. The Rev. Bernice King and march organizers deliberately chose King's resting place in Atlanta to imply that he would have stood with them. But Martin Luther King's uncompromising battle against discrimination during his life -- and his persistent refusal to distance himself from a well-known gay civil rights leader -- show that King never would have endorsed an anti-gay campaign.
Jeff Fleischer: Holding Power Accountable
The president of Common Cause talks about election-day voting problems, the need for electoral reform, and the importance of staying engaged.
Emily Alpert: Rainbow and red
What surprised Sabrina Wolf, when she came out to her American Indian grandmother, was the older woman's lack of surprise. "I started by telling her, 'I'm different,'" the white-haired, soft butch activist recalls. And she had this look of, 'Yeah, I know.' And then she said, 'There's people like you at home [among Indians], and it's a good thing." In addition, her grandmother advised her, "You're gonna hear Š a lot in your life, that's it's a bad thing, here (among white people), but it's not a bad thing, and you'll know about it later.'"
Political Cartoons by Ms. Mikhaela Blake Reid
Daily Updating Political Cartoons
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast & cool - rain on the way.
Buzzcook asked if I knew who the woman is that gets the roses at the end of the Letterman Show. Since I didn't have an answer, can anyone help out?
Jim Varney, as his character
Ernest P. Worrell, did commercials for a car lot (Cerritos Auto Mall) until his death (10 Feb., 2000).
A few weeks ago, the Cerritos Auto Mall debuted some new commercials featuring a computer generated
Ernest P. Worrell with a voice that almost sounds like
Jim Varney's - it has his timbre and tonal qualities, but the cadence is off.
It sounds like they took old dialog & tried to re-format it, like a word-by-word cut & paste.
And it's pretty damn creepy.
Drug Firms Issue Memos
Michael Moore
Some pharmaceutical companies are telling their employees to look out for the scruffy guy in the baseball cap.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that at least six drug companies have released internal communications telling employees to be wary of filmmaker Michael Moore.
Moore, normally seen sporting a beard and a ball cap, has now set his sights on the health care industry, including insurance companies, HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration and drug companies.
Michael Moore
Works With Guide Dog Group
Isabella Rossellini
For the past 10 months, Isabella Rossellini has been training a future guide dog for the blind, taking him on the subway, into restaurants, onto movie sets, even to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.
"I walk the dog myself," Rossellini said of her daily outings in Central Park with the puppy, a Labrador-poodle mix named Terry. "I cannot imagine myself living without pets," and raising a future guide dog "allows me to combine my love of dogs with work for my community."
Rossellini, 52, said being a volunteer dog-handler has its rewards, adding Terry has been a breeze to raise.
Isabella Rossellini
Subplots Abound
New Year's Eve
Let the surfing begin. With an ailing king, two would-be successors and a ubiquitous substitute, New Year's Eve on television has more subplots than a party with three ex-girlfriends.
Dick Clark and his "New Year's Rockin' Eve" on ABC has been the go-to party for 32 years, but he'll be away from Times Square this Friday as he continues recovering re this Friday as he continues recovering from a stroke. Regis Philbin will fill in for him.
NBC is launching its own party show from Rockefeller Center with Carson Daly. Ryan Seacrest, in his third year for Fox, is bringing his show east to New York for the first time. Even gray-haired hipster Anderson Cooper will emcee a CNN New Year's show from Times Square with the rock band Green Day.
Don't expect Clark, health permitting, and ABC to give it up easily. "New Year's Rockin' Eve" is annually ABC's second most popular entertainment special after the Oscars.
(CBS, by the way, is essentially punting on New Year's Eve, running a prime-time lineup of reruns and a repeat "Late Show" with David Letterman.)
New Year's Eve
Angry After Sikh Play Scrapped
Salman Rushdie
British author Salman Rushdie, who went into hiding for years after Iran's leader ordered him killed, assailed Britain on Sunday for allowing angry Sikh groups to force the cancellation of a Sikh play last week.
A theater in Birmingham canceled the play "Behzti" (Dishonor) after angry Sikh demonstrators turned violent on Dec. 18. They were protesting against the play, which depicts sex abuse in a Sikh temple.
The play's author, Gupreet Kaur Bhatti, herself a Sikh, has gone into hiding after receiving death threats.
"It is pretty terrible to hear government ministers expressing approval of the ban and failing to condemn the violence, when they should be supporting freedom of expression," Rushdie told The Sunday Telegraph newspaper.
"If being upset is the only requirement to banning something, there will be nothing on in the theaters."
Salman Rushdie
Balked at Morgue Visit
Louise Lombard
When Louise Lombard landed a role as the new crime-scene investigator on "CSI," a producer suggested she prepare by visiting a morgue.
"I turned to her and said, 'That's where the acting comes in,'" Lombard said. "There's no way I'm going to see a corpse just in the name of research. I'm dedicated, but not THAT dedicated."
On "CSI" Lombard plays a crime scene investigator demoted to work on the graveyard shift with star William Petersen.
Louise Lombard
The French 'Spiderman'
Alain Robert
A French urban climber who calls himself Spiderman climbed to the top of the world's tallest building on Saturday - Taipei 101.
Alain Robert, 42, took almost four hours to reach the top of the 1,679-foot building. The climb took him nearly twice as long as he had expected, partly because of dreary weather.
As dark clouds drifted around the top, Robert climbed onto the roof with a tired smile. "It was very wet ... and there was a strong wind," he said.
Alain Robert
Freed Actor Reunited With Family in U.S.
Erik Anthony Aude
Actor Erik Anthony Aude, who was freed from a Pakistani prison after serving two years on a drug charge, returned home Sunday night to an emotional reunion with family and friends.
Aude, who had minor roles on the television show "Reba" and in the hit film "Dude, Where's My Car?" was freed Thursday from a jail in Rawalpindi, a city near Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.
Aude, who declined to tell reporters about his prison ordeal, said he was looking forward to eating a chili dog.
Aude was arrested at Islamabad airport Feb. 15, 2002, after authorities said they found 7.9 pounds of opium in a suitcase he was carrying minutes before he was to leave on a flight for Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Erik Anthony Aude
Works To Be Displayed In New Museum
Clyfford Still
By most accounts, the late Clyfford Still was a difficult customer - a grumpy, self-imposed isolationist who hoarded his paintings, told collectors which works they would be buying and once took back one of his paintings from a patron by slashing it out of its frame. One reviewer dubbed him the Unabomber of abstract expressionism
Contemporaries still remember how Still for years refused to exhibit his work in New York because it was "too corrupt" before agreeing to a 1980 exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - after it allowed him to hang his own work and curate the showing.
For all of his attitude, though, there is no questioning the wonder of his jagged-looking, mural-sized works filled with bold colours and heavy strokes. Jackson Pollock once said: "Still makes the rest of us look academic."
Yet it seemed the full scope of Still's work would never be seen by the public. Of his 975 paintings, 750 remain in his estate along with 1,300 pastels, and his will says they can only be shown in a museum built exclusively for his work.
for the rest, Clyfford Still
Roadside Attraction in Kentucky
Santa
Driving along U.S. 27 near Lancaster, motorists can see more than Christmas lights and decorations - they can stop and visit with Santa.
From Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, C.W. Gay dons a Santa suit and waves to passing vehicles from the knoll where his mobile home sits.
Gay's sister, Judy Black, said people in Garrard County have come to expect to see her brother waving.
"Even when you're having a bad day, you can't help but laugh when you come down 27 and you see this big, fat Santa Claus standing up on a hill waving at people. As I've told him, 'If you make one person smile, then, hey, you've done what you needed to do for the day.'"
Santa
Court Lets Man Change Name
'Variable'
Just in time for Christmas, Snaphappy Fishsuit Mokiligon got a gift from the state Court of Appeals: a name change. The Albuquerque resident's new name will be Variable.
The appeals court ruled this week that a state district judge in Bernalillo County didn't provide sufficient reason for denying Mokiligon's name change application.
While some states require petitioners to show good reasons for name changes, New Mexico doesn't, the court said.
The court cautioned in its opinion that Mokiligon must stick to Variable as his legal name, and that he must use it "unless or until he changes his name again through a recognized legal process."
'Variable'
