Dancing with Myself

Chappy Channuka!

After getting into an argument with several Jewish friends about whether or not the Christmas tree is a religious symbol or not, let's take a break and say,  Chappy Channuka!  Yeah! 

Chanuka is a minor holiday in the Jewish religion.  It's observance is noted primarily as a counterbalance to Christmas.  Forget it, guys, you lose.  Christmas rocks as a holiday.  We got the red ribbons going, the bells, the songs.  What songs does Chanuka have? I have a little dreidl?  Oh please.  Comes to music, Christmas rocks.  And most of the most popular songs are secular, and NOT religious.

I maintain that the first holiday humans observed was the winter's solstice.  Damn, the sun was dying and humankind would all die, then suddenly enough virgins were sacrificed and the sun came back.  That's a reason to celebrate.

Call it anything you want:  Christmas, Chanuka, Kwaanza, etc., etc.  What we celebrate is the midwinter's solstice.

Asshole of the Season Award

Goes to Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky who hired a lawyer and threatened to sue the Port of Seattle if it didn't add a menorah next to its display of Christmas trees.  Bogomilsky reacted with surprise to the removal of the trees by the Port of Seattle by saying, "Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday." Yeah, right. Call a lawyer, asshole.  Nothing puts spirit into the holidays like threatening to sue someone.  Bogomilsky is employed in Seattle at the regional headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation.  Oh the irony, the irony.

Okay, first of all, Christmas trees are not a Christian religious symbol.  No no way, not no how.  Anyone who thinks otherwise should do a bit of investigating.  Do Christians use the tree?  Sure, we do.  It's a festive symbol of the winter holiday.  Do Christians often put religious symbols on the tree?  Yes, but more often than not there is nothing even remotely religious about the decorations.  The Seattle Airport trees were adorned with red ribbons. 

Going hand-in-hand with Bogomilsky's award of Asshole of the Season, a special Chicken-Shit Award of the season goes to the Port of Seattle for its total capitulation in the face of an unreasonable demand from an ignorant asshole.

Congratulations to both recipients.

"They've darkened the hall instead of turning the lights up," said Bogomilsky's lawyer, Harvey Grad. "There is a concern here that the Jewish community will be portrayed as the Grinch."  Harvey came in second for Asshole of the Season for not telling Bogomilsky to go fuck himself. 

The Sound of Thinking

Quiet.  Very quiet.  That's what thinking sounds like.

I've not been blogging much lately.  I haven't felt like it.  Oh, I'm still with strong opinion about just about everything, but lately I haven't felt like putting any energy into saying anything.  I've just been thinking about it.  Weird, eh?

I guess I've finally bored myself into silence.  Other than that, I've been doing the same-o-same-o.

I still curse George W. Bush at least once a day, and I always spit when I say his name.  P'tew.  Asshole that he is.

I am still celebrating the fact that the Democrats took over both houses of Congress, even though I do not consider myself a Democrat. 

I am still angry at relatives and EX-friends who enthusiastically supported Bush (p'tew!) in 2004 and who have not publicly confessed their idiocy and short-sightedness. 

I've become very active in the Redbone Heritage Foundation.  I am a Redbone.  What's a Redbone, you ask?  It's too long and complicated to answer with a paragraph.   I write about it here and here. Google it if you're curious beyond  this explanation.  I only mention it because it has been taking up so much of my time.

Oh, and I'm happy.  I'm surrounded by loving and caring friends.  The universe is generous to me.  Those closest to me are doing well.  Friends afar with serious issues of heath are doing well.  My issues are tiny and inconsequential.

Smug it is, I'm feeling.