The guys over at Politically Incorrect Gazette continue to out do themselves!
Recognizing the fact that they were limited in their
Girlieman of the Week awards, and not wanting any of the other Korrectnik ass hats left out, Hambo thrills them spitless with a new award -Steaming Loads For October 26, 2007
This steaming load was deposited by the Port of Seattle Commission. They are terrified that a local Torah wrangler, Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky, who crawled out from under a rock last year to whine about the Sea-Tac International Airport’s blatantly ‘religious’ Christmas display, last year, will do it all over again.. In 2006, Rabbi Elazar threatened to launch a lawsuit if Sea-Tac didn’t erect an eight-foot tall menorah next to the large, ribbon-festooned tree in the main terminal.
After some blowback from outraged rational adults, Rabbi Elazar backed off, but he vowed to bring the whole subject up again, much earlier, this year. With that threat hanging over their heads the Port of Seattle Commission managed, quite successfully, to expunge anything remotely reminiscent of Christmas, secular or sacred, from the Sea-Tac Airport’s festive decor:
‘...a grove of luminous birches up to 30 feet high and hung with crystals and mirrors to reflect colored, low-energy lights emanating from within piles of Dacron snow...’
‘...Above the trees will be a spiraling flock of migrating birds cut out of foam. Every once in a while, non-toxic snow will fall over the forest to the sound of wind chimes, joining the hubbub of Sea-Tac's busy holiday travel season from the forest's location at the south end of the main terminal, in the international arrivals hall...’ (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
The Port of Seattle Commission will need to reserve the biggest turd on this reeking platter for Rabbi Elazar, the man who singlehandedly, killed Christmas at Sea-Tac.
King, I'm respectfully asking that you read a story from last year about what happened and a story from this year about what the city is doing. My opinion has always been, either do it all, or don't do it at all. But you can't have some and not others. I also don't believe in provocation for provocation's sake - and I wrote about the Sea-Tac situation as it unfolded last year.
ReplyDeleteWhat's odd to me about this year's decision is that Chanuka is so early - it doesn't come close to Christmas like it did last year, so there even could have been a decision to put both up after Thanksgiving and take down Chanuka when it ends - the night of 12/11.
I can't explain Sea-Tac's decision-making process.
Here are the links:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003473318_seatactrees12m.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003473318_seatactrees12m.html
HUMBUG! NO CHRISTMAS AT SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT!
ReplyDeleteWill the Lights Go Out on the National Christmas Tree, Too?
This year, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, near my home town of Seattle, there will be no Christmas. A twelve-member holiday decorations advisory committee of religious, academic, legal and business leaders has put an end to it. The commission mandated that decorations would "reflect the Pacific Northwest environment and our diverse community, and convey universal values, such as peace and harmony."
So what will you see at Seattle's airport in December, 2007? A grove of birch trees hung with mirrors to reflect colored lights, surrounded by artificial snow. Above the trees will be a flock of migrating birds cut out of foam.
Isn't it wonderful?
Political correctness is destroying our most cherished Christmas traditions. Our children are losing an important part of their American heritage. Unless we do something now, our children will live in a sterile world of "holiday" presents, "holiday" trees, "holiday" cookies, "winter" school concerts, and "winter" school breaks. Imagine a world in which our children watch the classic 1947 movie, "Miracle on 34th Street," and upon hearing the store clerks say "Merry Christmas" to customers, they think of it as just an outdated and quaint custom. Is that really what we want in America?
My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive who just couldn't sit by and let the mis-education of America's youth go unchallenged anymore. I'm tired of seeing America's next generation being fed a curriculum of politically-correct misinformation, guilt, and shame. I decided to do something about it.
I wrote, photographed, and published an American history book designed to set the record straight, to teach the real lessons of American history, and to prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.
In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels into the great events of the 20th Century. Advanced digital photography places Anthony in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day. Anthony "meets" and "talks with" Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, Charles Lindbergh, Audie Murphy, and many others. But historical accuracy rules every page of Anthony's adventure in time: Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said. My Web site, www.MagicPictureFrame.com, displays some of the book's amazing photographs.
But the book goes beyond dazzling photography and solid historical facts: The book presents the moral lessons of American history. Anthony learns valuable lessons from what he sees in the past. Anthony compares the people and events of the past with the people and events of his own time. Anthony discusses the nature of good and evil, right and wrong, war and peace, what it means to be an American, honor and discipline, success and achievement, courage and destiny, marriage and family, God and purpose.
The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is really about living a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about the benefits of business leadership and hard work. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.
The book is written for kids in Grade 6 to Grade 12, and for parents and teachers who want to remember the truth.
In Chapter 9 of the book, Anthony makes this comment about the modern day: "In my time, lawyers take Christ out of Christmas and make it just another Happy Holiday."
Anthony is right.
Every year, there are new efforts to expunge Christ from Christmas, and to remove all mentions of God from public discourse, government buildings, government oaths, American currency, and the Pledge of Allegiance. It's an assault on our American heritage, and our children are the losers. Last year a local public elementary school replaced it's Christmas tree with a "giving" tree, and then even that was replaced with a "giving" counter!
And yet: Christmas is a federal holiday! And, every Christmas season, the President of the United States lights the National Christmas Tree on the White House Lawn!
When the lights go out on the National Christmas Tree, what will our country be like? Is it the country we want to live in?
Remember, the truth is that for more than two hundred years, Americans have trusted in God to guide them and protect them. The evidence is everywhere, and even inscribed in stone!
Here are just a few examples:
"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God." That was President Abraham Lincoln speaking to the American people in 1863.
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?" That was Thomas Jefferson in 1776. His words are inscribed in stone at his memorial in Washington, DC.
"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, and to be grateful for his benefits." That was President George Washington in 1789.
"And this be our motto: In God is our trust." That is the fourth stanza of the National Anthem, written by Francis Scott Key in 1814.
We must preserve the best of American culture and traditions for our children and grandchildren. We must not forget who we are. This year, say "Merry Christmas" to your fellow Americans: It's an all-inclusive message of God's love for every man, woman, and child.
Truth can not be denied. Christmas is a good time to remember that.
So, when the President of the United States lights the national Christmas Tree on the White House lawn later this month, say Merry Christmas! And thank God.
Merry Christmas!
(You can read more about why I wrote the book here: www.magicpictureframe.blogspot.com.)
Michael S. Class
Author / Photographer / Publisher
E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com
Web Site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI have read the article. I agree with you that provocation for provocation sake is not good. And that is why I agree with Hambo's post. I believe the rabbi's initial intent was to provoke and a reason for the time honored cry of " We're offended."
In this day and age of lawsuit happy people or groups, how should Sea-Tac have acted on such short notice.
Without reading the text of the letter, I would say they must have had enough reason to believe a lawsuit would follow had they not catered to rabbi's request. It appears the rabbi is only claiming innocence AFTER the trees were removed and they received complaints and threats.
Quoting John Strait of Seattle University in the article -- "the Christmas holiday has become so secular that many symbols associated with it, such as the Christmas tree, have simply become symbols of the holiday. But legal debates rage over just how religious some symbols, such as the nativity scene, actually are. Strait said the menorah has achieved about the same religious status as a nativity scene."
I do not believe a Christmas Tree is a religious symbol. If it is - then the Easter Bunny should be considered a religious symbol also - correct?
If a Christmas Tree can be considered a religious symbol then I believe the Kosher Symbol on items should also be considered a religious symbol.
So taking the "do it all" or "do nothing at all" theory - we should have Crosses on all food items that have the Kosher symbol?
Should we ban Halloween? I believe this is a Pagan holiday (?) could it not be considered offensive to Chistianity and Judaism?
King
King,
ReplyDeleteIt never ceases to amaze me when I see what sets some people off. Of all the things I've written, some of which make me cringe when I read them, afterwards, this one is one of the tamest.
Rabbi E stepped in it last year when he went toe-to-toe with the Sea-Tac stoneheads over those ribbon-festooned trees. When the blowback became...memorable, he backed off, but emulated Mexifornia's Action Hero Governor with a vow: "I'll be back."
Jill is quite correct on one matter. After Rabbi E backed off, the Sea-Tac stoneheads relented and gave the outraged rational adults what they demanded: evergreen trees festooned with red ribbons. Happily ever after? Not exactly.
That threat of a return engagement with Rabbi E was all it took to make the Great Northwest Nitwits perpetrate this art deco eyesore and blame their artistic pretensions on Christmas.
The primary targets of my poison pen are the Sea-Tac stoneheads who let one man with an agenda stampede them into doing something this stupid.
Not that it matters, now, but I did post an update on the Steaming Loads page that clarifies the point that's giving Jill heartburn.
And now you know the rest of the story.
Hambo