Echinde today:

Consider this seriously: a country where the majority of people are Christian, a country where Christmas advertizing starts right after Labor Day, a country where you cannot escape hearing “Dreaming of A White Christmas” has a war against Christmas, a war so powerful that this majority is on its knees, silenced, driven out of the public space. What utter crap. Who are these powerful enemies of Christmas, pray, tell me.

Long story short, this isn’t really about Christmas. It’s about insecurity and dominance, and much more the latter than the former. Some segment of the Christian population feels threatened by people who are different. Others, emboldened by asstards like Bill O’Reilly, feel entitled to be in-your-face about their dominance. They don’t just want to celebrate Christmas, they want people to “just shut up,” be ashamed, or even scared if they don’t celebrate Christmas too.

These people seriously need to get over themselves.

Note to Bert Prelutsky: You can’t have your cake and eat it too.

Either the Jews in America are

an infinitesimal minority

Or they are so powerful that

When it comes to pushing the multicultural, anti-Christian, agenda, you find Jewish judges, Jewish journalists, and the ACLU, at the forefront.

[snip]

It is the ACLU, which is overwhelmingly Jewish in terms of membership and funding, that is leading the attack against Christianity in America. It is they who have conned far too many people into believing that the phrase “separation of church and state” actually exists somewhere in the Constitution.

In other words, somehow, this tiny little insignificant slice of the American population is so powerful that we’re able to virtually singlehandedly turn “Christmas” into a dirty word. How exactly is that possible? The “Vast Jewish Conspiracy” that bigots like Henry Ford wrote about? Somehow, I think not.

The utter illogic of the thing gets my blood pressure up as much as its falsity does.

Prelutsky is right about one thing though. The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” One could say that turning a religious holiday into a Federal one is an example of the establishment of a religion. But since I’m Jewish, I better not say that, or I might get accused of being part of a vast conspiracy.

Currently making its way around the blogosphere:

Jews too were justifiably, though unnecessarily, persecuted for their beliefs and inability to conform to social norms. The great injustice was the persecution of the conversos in Spain, who were sincere converts to Christianity.

In other words, it’s OK to perescute Jews because, silly people, they won’t give up their beliefs and traditions. The only thing that might possibly have been inappropriate in terms of what the Jews got was the unpleasantness in Spain in the late 1400s, when Spanish Jews were forced on pain of death or expulsion to convert to Catholicism and then some of the converts were persecuted.

I’d like to come up with some witty but still crushing piece of repartee that simultaneously mocks and totally refutes “Brother” Judd’s assertion, but his delusional self-importance is overwhelming. I’m ashamed that this … person … is a part of my species.

I’m also not going to link to the originating site, because the last thing he deserves is more web traffic, even the pathetic amount that this site might drive his way. Click through via Atrios or Digby if you absolutely must read the rest.

.

Shir l’Shalom still makes me cry.

People For the American Way has it, by way of the ASZ:

On today

*sigh* As the person who posted it said, it makes perfect sense if you’re a certain kind of person.

Of course, being a ‘heretic’ Jew I’m probably wrong, but somehow I suspect Jesus wouldn’t approve.

Addendum — Just realized I was not being clear enough above. I don’t think Jesus would approve of wanton warmaking, not of wishing blessings on the poor bastards who are being forced to fight it.

Pat Robertson seems to have hurt nobody but his own evangelical bretheren by his recent call for the asassination of President Chavez:

Venezuela’s government has temporarily suspended permits for foreign missionaries after a U.S. televangelist said Washington should assassinate President Hugo Chavez.

The policy announcement came four days after conservative evangelist Pat Robertson said Washington should execute Chavez, a former soldier who often accuses the United States of plotting to kill him.

The chief of the Justice Ministry’s religious affairs unit, Carlos Gonzalez, said Friday authorization of permits for missionaries would be curbed while the government tightened regulations on preachers inside Venezuela.

The permits “are suspended for a short time … while we organize a system to see what additional data we need for people coming into the country to preach,” Gonzalez told Reuters.

“We were already working on this, but these declarations have made us speed things up,” he said.

Heh.

Hat tip: AmericaBlog

Israeli paper cups in a Saudi hospital! Cue the outrage – It must be a Mossad plot!

Riyadh, 22 August (AKI) – Paper cups made in Israel have caused a storm of protest in a Saudi hospital, the Saudi newspaper Arab News reports. Officials at the King Khaled National Guard Hospital says they are investigating after the catering subcontractors for the coffee shops in the hospital ran out and began using Israeli paper cups with Hebrew writing on them, sparking outrage among the customers.

What’s sad is that someone, somewhere, probably does think that my opening joke is for real.

They have some other funny fish plaques as well. I’m really tempted by this one

Order them here. No, I do not get a commission on the sale.

I’m not 100% sure about the ultimate provenance of these statistics, but if true, they’re pretty interesting:

* About 92 percent of American own at least one copy of the Bible.
* The average household has 3 copies.
* About 67 percent of Americans say that the Bible holds the answers to the basic questions of life.
* The Bible is the world’s all-time best seller.
* At least 20 million copies are sold each year.
* Gideon International annually distributes more than 45 million copies.

Biblical knowledge (Biblical illiteracy is rampant):

* Perhaps 15 percent of Americans participate in Bible studies.
* The number of people who read the Bible, at least occasionally is 59 percent.
* Less than 50 percent of Americans can name the first book of the Bible (Genesis).
* Only 1/3 of Americans know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount (more people identified Billy Graham than Jesus).
* Twenty-five percent of Americans don’t know what is celebrated on Easter (the Resurrection of Christ).
* Twelve percent of Christians think that Noah’s wife is Joan of Arc.
* Eighty percent of born-again Christians (including George W. Bush) think it is the Bible that says “God helps them that help themselves.” (Actually it was said by Benjamin Franklin.)

By way of a dKos diary, I found this lovely story today about a North Carolina church that told its Democrat members to repent or leave. Some were kicked out. More resigned in protest over the minister’s actions (and kudos to them for doing so).

Religion and Politics Clash
Religion and politics clash over a local church’s declaration that Democrats are not welcome.

East Waynesville Baptist asked nine members to leave. Now 40 more have left the church in protest. Former members say Pastor Chan Chandler gave them the ultimatum, saying if they didn’t support George Bush, they should resign or repent. The minister declined an interview with News 13.

On the one hand, it’s just a small Baptist congregation in the middle of the woods. On the other hand, the church’s actions have threatening implications. Memes have a tendency to spread, and the “kick out the democrats” theme has been floated in other forums as well — notably conservative columnist Larry Elder yesterday suggesting that it’s unhealthy for corporations to hire Democrats.

This Us versus Them stuff is getting stronger and stronger. I don’t like it.

Orcinus has an update on the ongoing mess that C-SPAN is making out of trying to cover Deborah Lipstadt’s book “History on Trial: My Day in Court With David Irving”. he also points to an article at Salon (sorry, registration and/or watching a commercial required) whith this nice graf:

Sooner or later, every Jew who perceives anti-Semitism as an encroaching danger gets described as hysterical or paranoid. The flattering self-deception at the root of that reaction is a way of consigning anti-Semitism to the past, of saying, “Surely we’ve become more civilized than that.” “History on Trial” makes the case, as did “Lying About Hitler,” that we have not become so civilized we are above tolerating David Irving.

Indeed. I also note the following news item today:

A professor who taught history this semester at Fairleigh Dickinson University made disparaging remarks about blacks and Jews on an Internet broadcast and is an active member of a group that calls itself “America’s Nazi Party.”

The university last week relieved Jacques Pluss of his classroom duties, but not because of his white supremacist views. Officials at the Teaneck campus said he missed too many classes.

Pluss said his membership in the National Socialist Movement, the largest neo-Nazi organization in the country, did not color his teaching. The derogatory remarks were made during a Web cast he hosts called “White Viewpoint” on the organization’s site.

On the one hand, I recognize that is it somewhat suspect to fire a professor for holding unpopular views. That’s an approach too easily abused. But still, the fact the that University had to fire the guy for missing too many classes instead of because he’s a racist, anti-semitic bigot is just a little nuts.