IT'S CHRISTMAS!

RIGHT AFTER HALLOWEEN

Deck The Malls With Bows Of Lolly

Gee, can't you just feel it? That most sacred time of the year, for Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu's, Buddhists, Taoists, Bahai's, Zoroastrians, Animists, Wiccans, Satanists, Agnostics, Atheists, Importers, Manufacturers, Wholesalers and Retailers! Boy, if you've got kids, or friends, it doesn't matter if you've accepted American shopping icon Jesus Christ as your "personal savior" or not. Come January, you'll be praying for his help with the bills, or cursing His Holy Name, and Visa's.

It's not possible to ignore Christmas in the United States. It's right in your face for two full months every year. Radio jingles, TV commercials, magazine ads, newspaper supplements, online pop-ups, email spam, junk-mail, catalogues, store displays, holiday movies, TV specials, Christmas decorations, pageants, school events, church choir concerts, parades, Santas, elves, angels, stables, mangers, creches, Wise Men, frankincense, myrrh, reindeer, flying sleighs, big bags of toys and goodies, and all that WONDERFUL Christmas music! Aaahh! It's the Hap-Hap-Happiest Time of the Year! Ain't it? But, does it have to be quite so all-pervasive? So inescapeable? SO FUCKING LONG!!!???

Imagine if the Muslims started shoving Ramadan down your throat for two months every year. Think our violently Christian friends would stand for it? Or our bizniz community? No eating all day, for a month. Hard to shop on an empty stomach. How about the Jewish High Holidays? Two months of atonement, anyone? Some pretty dreary TV specials, and holiday movies, there. Oy, vey, think of the CAROLS! And what of our Hindu friends? They've got LOTS of gods! Why not give each one two months, so they can rub our noses in their religion all year long? Or, maybe just cut this shit out all together.

You want to buy your kids presents? Go ahead. You don't need an excuse for that. OK, maybe you do, for spending several thousand dollars on those gifts. Maybe you shouldn't do that. It's bad for your bank balance, and your credit rating. And it sure doesn't help your kids grow up to be responsible, or well-adjusted. Maybe just a couple of simple presents, and a long weekend in the country together, getting to know each other. No TV, no video games, no computers. OK, bad idea. But so is all this over-the-top Xmas shit.

If you really want to show what a great Christian you are, start by leaving the rest of us alone. Then, maybe, do some good works. Nothing too radical. Buy a few books for your underfunded local schools or libraries. Kick in a few bucks to the underfunded local homeless shelter. Take a hooker to lunch. Or three! Ho-ho-ho! I believe that's what would Jesus do. Or, maybe just coffee, anyway. And, hey, go ahead pray. It's no skin off my nose. Just do it quietly. I'm trying to sleep through Christmas. Thanks.

Oh, eh... unless you want to turn it into one long fucking orgy... you know... a sexual orgy... like, with fucking? Ho-ho-ho! Call me. I'm a very devout Pagan.

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SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!

SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS

WITH ARMED GUARDS AND BARBED WIRE

Otherwise, They Might Get Away

It's tough, being in the military. You're separated from your friends and family. You're cut off from your own life, career, education, relationships. You're usually far from home, often in unpleasant places, under difficult conditions. Many military bases have upgraded their facilities so that they are not just camps, with barracks and latrines and chow halls, like concentration camps. Efforts have been made to make military life less like prison.

Still, you are "government property," twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, for four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, and who knows how many more years. You signed up, or got drafted, to kill or be killed, and, legally, you have almost no rights. They can do anything they want with you, including medical and psychological experiments. If you don't like it, too bad. You signed a contract. They own you.

Under these conditions, it might seem that it would be difficult to get men, and women now, to give their all, to accomplish any mission, to make the ultimate sacrifice, to die for their country. We have some highly dedicated, totally motivated, patriotically activated soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and coastguardsmen and women out there.

They'll "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." All they ask is a little respect. And they're getting it, from the civilians back home. No matter what happens, we support our troops.

But they are not getting proper respect from our so-called leaders, the civilian politicans and bureaucrats, and the career military at the top of the chain of command. They are being lied to and intimidated into signing up, re-enlisting, extending their tours, volunteering for duty, accepting call-ups, and being deployed and redeployed. They are being held like prisoners in poorly equipped camps, and prevented from having any contact with their families.

They are being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan on short notice, without complete training, and with inadequate equipment. They are being put in dangerous positions without the ability to properly defend themselves. They are being exposed to radiation and toxic substances that WE brought to the battlefield. They are being abused and misused and wounded and disabled and killed in battles without an overall military strategy, in a war based on lies, deception, and delusion, by the White House.

Read the articles I've linked to, below, and you'll see what I mean. This is not merely some liberal's opinion. These are facts. Whatever you may think of the goals and pretexts for this war, or the people who started it, this is no way to treat our troops.

They deserve respect from the very top on down to their own unit commanders. They deserve to be treated like human beings, even if they are going to war. They deserve to be treated like Americans, even if they are in the military. They deserve better than what the Bush administration is giving them now: Disrespect.



"Guardsmen Say They're Facing Iraq Ill-Trained"


"The Soldiers Who Said No"


"Troops feeling strain"

"GIs Lack Armor, Radios, Bullets"


"Weapons of Self-Destruction"

Send comments to cosanostradamus AT excite DOT com.



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TO POST A COMMENT: CLICK ON "COMMENTS," "Post a Comment" or "# of COMMENTS" just below the SOCIAL BOOKMARKING LINKS (Digg, Delicious, etc), about three inches down from here. Please do comment. Thank you.

IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR BLOGGERS:

Suggestion Box & Tip Jar We would like to make over this blog to make it easier to access, to read and to comment on. We would also like to serve our readers better by providing more of what you need and want to see. All serious suggestions will be considered. We hope to move to our own domain in the near future, and we would like to ask for your financial assistance in doing that, and in upgrading our hardware & software. Small one-time donations and larger long-term subscriptions are welcome. Exclusive advertising is also available. If you think we are wasting our time in doing all this, please let us know. If you wish to help us, now is the time. As always, negative bullsh*t from right-wing trolls will be sh*tcanned. Thank you to everyone else. Please send feedback & PayPal contributions to cosanostradamusATexciteDOTcom. Thanks.

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: BRING THEM ALL HOME ALIVE, NOW!