1115.org

It’s completely passe and a bit annoying to hear people bitching every year about how Christmas has become so commercialized etc. That’s not to say that I’m so done hearing Christmas songs, but it’s been like this since before any of us was born, and it will of course be this way long after we’re dead. But what’s really absurd, is the commercialization of the war against the war against Christmas:

The American Family Association, a conservative activist group, has rung up more than $550,000 in sales of buttons and magnets stamped with the slogan “Merry Christmas: It’s Worth Saying.”

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm affiliated with the religious right, has taken in more than $300,000 with its “Help Save Christmas Action Packs.” The kits include two buttons, two bumper stickers and “The Memo that Saved Christmas,” a guide to defending overt religious expression, such as a Nativity scene in a public school classroom.

Also for sale through conservative Web sites: Christmas bracelets, tree ornaments and lapel pins intended to send a defiant message to those who would turn December into a multicultural mush of “winter parties,” “seasonal sales” and “Happy Holidays” greetings. Christmas warriors can also download — for free — lists that rank retailers as either “naughty” or “nice,” depending on how often their ads refer to Christmas rather than a generic holiday.

“You’re seeing people really wanting to take this battle forward,” said Mat Staver, the president of Liberty Counsel, based in Orlando.

I’m sure the holy pious Falafel Bill O’ Reilly is proud, but just these two groups are claiming almost a million dollars for selling crappy reminders about how important not forgetting Christmas is, as if the non-stop assault of Yule-themed ads wasn’t already freely available. That’s a million dollars that could have gone directly to those in need rather than “protecting” a 2000-year-old holiday.

Just today, I saw two examples of slightly better uses for the money of those looking to buy salvation (or a better night’s sleep):

Nigerian Pipeline Explodes, Killing 200:

A ruptured gasoline pipeline burst into flames Tuesday as scavengers collected the fuel in Nigeria’s largest city, killing at least 200 people. The death toll was expected to rise as rescue workers tried to document more charred corpses.

Scores of bodies could be seen jumbled and fused together in the raging flames at the blast site. Intense heat kept rescue workers back as smoke billowed over the heavily populated Abule Egba neighborhood in Lagos.

Witnesses said thieves had broken into the pipeline after midnight and hundreds of men, women and children had been collecting leaking fuel in plastic buckets, cans and bags for hours before the explosion.

Too far away? Nigeria not a member of the “Coalition of the Willing?” More than 1 million New Yorkers ask: food or rent?:

Food or rent? That is the daily choice faced by about 1.2 million of New York’s 8.2 million people.

Faced with that choice, mostly they pay rent and rely on emergency or charity food to survive, poverty activists say.

“It’s a struggle,” said 53-year-old Pierre Simmons, who has a part-time job, as he wrapped up a bagel from his soup kitchen lunch for later. “I have a job, but the cost of living is so high it makes it hard to buy food.”

Hunger is not unique to New York. More than 12 million U.S. households — or 35 million Americans — struggled with hunger in 2005, according to the U.S. government.

But as it’s critically important for the 10 commandments to hang from every wall, lest the believers have their faith waver, a t-shirt or a magnet signifying support for Christmas is public. And That’s what Jesus was all about, overt symbolism in place of subtle good works. I’m sure he’d be just as proud of these idiots as Falafel Bill is.