As many as four million may be able to sue over robocalls made to their phones by Mike Huckabee pimping some straight to DVD "War on Christmas" movie.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

This week, potential litigants from Nebraska to Oklahoma received mailers offering the opportunity to join a class action lawsuit if former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee robocalled their houses with advertisements for a straight-to-DVD movie about the War on Christmas. 

“If you received one or more telephone calls that used the recorded voice of Mike Huckabee to deliver a message as part of a campaign for the movie Last Ounce of Courage, you may be a class member in a class action lawsuit,” the mailer reads. 

Lawyers for plaintiffs Dorit and Ron Golan, who first filed the suit in 2014, allege that more than 4 million calls were made in the marketing campaign for Last Ounce of Courage. The case was first dismissed in May of 2014, then allowed to proceed by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in June of 2015. The class action was certified by a U.S. district court judge in St. Louis in January of this year. 

Huckabee himself was originally listed as a defendant but was later removed from the case, according to a memorandum from United States District Judge E. Richard Webber, the person who initially determined that the Golans did not have a case. The suit hinges on the plaintiffs alleging that the calls are in potential violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which stipulates that unsolicited messages with commercial content via telephone is unlawful.

As you might imagine Huckabee was not prepared to speak to reporters about this case.

Okay look I don't like solicitors calling me at home either, but how bad can this movie be that so many people are prepared to sue over being asked to purchase it?

Holy crap! I actually want to get in on this lawsuit for just having to watch the trailer.

And get a load of the heavy handed marketing campaign: 

“The advertising campaign for Last Ounce of Courage included approximately 4 million telephone calls to residential telephone numbers through many states in the United States and ‘Email to Text (ETT) Messages’ to 30 million cell phones,” the complaint alleges. 

What’s more is that the complaint contends the calls were meant to appear as if they were a survey to see whether call recipients had “traditional American values.” And “if the recipients believed in freedom and liberty, they would enjoy Last Ounce of Courage.”Here are some of the segments the complaint alleges were featured in the call: 

“Hello, this is Governor Mike Huckabee with a 45-second survey. Do you believe in American Freedom and Liberty?” 

“Would you, like me, Mike Huckabee, like to see Hollywood respect and promote traditional American values?” 

“I am an enthusiastic supporter of a new movie called Last Ounce of Courage. It is a film about faith, freedom, and taking a stand for American values.” Some of the calls also allegedly included plugs for Huckabee’s radio show, which the the Golans’ lawyers point to in the complaint.

Yeah I think this is reasonable grounds for a lawsuit, I just wish that the original judge had not removed Huckabee who it appears "composed, reviewed, and modified the script, made the recording, inserted material into the script and recording advertising his radio show, inserted material into the recording personally benefitting him, all with the knowledge and expectation that his recording be played on 4 million illegal calls."

Seems to me that he should be the number one defendant named in the suit. 

I cannot believe these idiots are still trying to fan the flames on that ridiculous "War on Christmas" bullshit.

And what do they do now that Donald Trump is in the White House?

What am I saying? This it too good of a gig to simply walk away from.

They will continue pushing this "fake news" while blaming it on Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats. 

GOP presidential candidate Rand Paul (No seriously, he's still running.) celebrates Festivus, the fake holiday created for the comedy show Seinfeld, with the "Airing of Grievances."

Tap the video to read some of my most popular #Festivus tweets! #airingofgrievances https://t.co/w4qS3ibs2u

— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 24, 2015

Now first off the fact that Paul is tweeting this so close to the holiday that most of his constituents believe is constantly under attack might explain why he is sitting so low in the polls.

But secondly they are by no means the most irritated by his mentioning of Festivus.

THAT person is the man whose father invented the holiday, and then used it as a joke while working on the very popular sitcom Seinfeld, Dan O'Keefe: 

The "Seinfeld" writer who coined "Festivus" wants Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to stop tweeting about his beloved secular holiday. 

"I've been tweeting back at him," Dan O'Keefe told HuffPost Live on Wednesday. "I hate the guy. I think he's some sort of lizard that somehow crawled into a suit and somehow's been allowed into the senate."

You know Rand Paul DOES kind of look like a lizard if you really look at him. 

Maybe that is why he cannot grow real hair on his head.

It looks like Sarah Palin is finally going Hollywood. Well sorta.

Courtesy of LA Weekly:  

Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak to Hollywood conservative group Friends of Abe Friday, a source with knowledge of the situation says. 

The location is Brentwood's Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel, the same venue that hosted Donald Trump in July, the source, who did not want to be identified, said. 

The occasion is the FOA's holiday party, the source said, and it'll be the first time a speaker will be featured at the annual event. 

The onetime governor and vice presidential candidate is expected to deliver remarks about the "war on Christmas," the recurring controversy that reemerged this month when Starbucks unveiled red, holiday-neutral cups for the season.

You know I think if Abraham Lincoln were to actually meet these "Friends of Abe" he would probably vomit right into his beard.

Well IF Palin is actually going to this event, then she might also make the last book signing on her schedule at the Oak Tree Gun Club in California.

However considering the fact that her recent appearances have attracted smaller crowds than a garage sale in the Sahara, she just might quit on this as well.

After all, that is what she is most famous for doing.

Well according to the Pope there really is a war on Christmas, but not the one you've been hearing about.

Courtesy of Time: 

Pope Francis told churchgoers that Christmas this year is going to be a “charade” because “the whole world is at war.” 

The pontiff put this holiday season in perspective during mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria last week. His speech comes after a rash of notable violent incidents, including the now infamous terrorist attacks in Paris, as “we are close to Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war. 

“It’s all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is at war,” Pope Francis said. “A war can be justified, so to speak, with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war, piecemeal though that war may be—a little here, a little there—there is no justification.”

So according to the Pope it's not the non-religious or those who don't want to say Merry Christmas to shoppers that is threatening Christmas, but rather those who want continual war.

Gee now which political party promotes that around the world?

I understand what the Pope is saying, and I even agree with it somewhat, but if we allow the warlike, the fearmongers, and the terrorists to take Christmas away from us, then are we not allowing them to win?

I mean I'm an Atheist but that does not mean I don't love this time of year and wish to celebrate the holiday of giving with my friends and family.

I don't know about anybody else, but considering what is going on in the world I think we need to celebrate more aggressively than ever.

The movie, "Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas," wins multiple awards. Not sure these are the ones they wanted to win however.

Courtesy of Vulture:  

The Razzies, the annual awards for the worst of film, found a fitting target for their derision Saturday night. The committee bestowed Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas with four dubious honors, including Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Screen Combo for Kirk Cameron and his ego. 

Here are the categories that this pile of merry pile of crap managed to sweep:  

WORST PICTURE 
Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas 
Left Behind 
The Legend of Hercules 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 
Transformers: Age of Extinction 

WINNER: Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas.

WORST ACTOR 
Nicolas Cage – Left Behind 
Kirk Cameron – Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas 
Kellan Lutz – The Legend of Hercules 
Seth MacFarlane – A Million Ways To Die in the West 
Adam Sandler – Blended 

WINNER: Kirk Cameron.

WORST SCREEN COMBO 

Any Two Robots, Actors (or Robotic Actors) – Transformers: Age of Extinction 
Kirk Cameron & His Ego – Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas 
Cameron Diaz & Jason Segel – Sex Tape 
Kellan Lutz & Either His Abs, His Pecs or His Glutes – The Legend of Hercules 
Seth MacFarlane & Charlize Theron – A Million Ways To Die in the West 

WINNER: Kirk Cameron and his Ego.

WORST SCREENPLAY 

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, Written by Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey 
Left Behind, Screenplay by Paul LaLonde and John Patus, based on the Novel by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins 
Sex Tape, Screenplay by Kate Angelo and Jason Segel & Nicholas Stoller 
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Written by Evan Daugherty and Andre Nemec & Josh Applebaum, based on Characters Created by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman 
Transformers: Age of Extinction, Written by Ehren Kruger, based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures

And the WINNER is: Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, Written by Darren Doane and Cheston Hervey.


It is also worth noting that on Rotten Tomatoes this flop rated a 0%, which is pretty damn difficult to accomplish. 

Gee, do you think that NOW Cameron will finally stop trying to make these movies?

Yeah, me either.

Sarah Palin's favorite Fox News contributor, Todd Starnes, caught promoting fake story about Christian persecution again.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

A Fox News correspondent has been busted again for pushing a one-sided story claiming religious persecution of Christians. 

Todd Starnes helped promote a story about a California first-grader who allegedly was not allowed to give a one-minute presentation about her family’s Christmas tradition because it included religious references. 

He quoted an Advocates for Faith and Family attorney who claimed the girl’s teacher ordered her to take a seat Dec. 19 and wouldn’t allow her to finish. 

“The disapproval and hostility that Christian students have come to experience in our nation’s public schools has become epidemic,” said attorney Robert Tyler, warning the family might sue if the school district didn’t apologize and change its policies on religious expression.

It should come as no surprise to most of us who know this little weasel's work, that this fabricated story did not match the real facts.

The girl was the only student who read from a prepared statement during a brief sharing exercise intended to improve students’ public speaking skills, the teacher said, and she asked her to cut short the statement due to limited time. 

The teacher denies telling the girl to sit down, instead allowing her to take one question from another student. 

“At no time did I ever tell the student that she could not read the bottom section [of her statement] because it was a Bible verse nor did she ask if she could finish,” said teacher Tammy Williams. “I never told her to ‘Stop right there!’ or ‘Go take your seat!’ or reprimand her in front of the class for sharing from the Bible. It just did not happen.” 

Paradise said she met with the following day with the girl’s parents, who were upset because they thought she was unable to finish her presentation because of its biblical content. 

The principal said neither parent claimed bullying or humiliation by teachers, which she said was made up by the religious legal group, and she has not heard from the parents since presenting her findings about the incident Dec. 24 to the school board. 

Paradise said she stood behind the teacher, and both she and Williams complained that Tyler and his group had misrepresented the incident and damaged their reputations. 

“What saddens me is that this story was twisted into lies and brought to the media,” Williams said. “I have never sat down and discussed this directly with the family or the student. I am instead being used to push an agenda for the Advocates for Faith and Freedom.”

No wonder Palin likes this guy, he has as much trouble telling the truth as she does. 

You know whenever I hear yet another story of supposed persecution of Christians I always remember the words of Jon Stewart.

Exactly!

Sarah Palin does not believe the American military is worthy of volunteers unless it pushes Christianity down their throats. Update!

Courtesy of the GI Joe Groupie's Facebook page:

Look, U.S. Military top brass, some of us are known for supporting our troops 110%, even encouraging our own kids in their voluntary, sacrificial enlistments. (Well it certainly beats jail!) We send them off with blessings as you send them off to war. You keep pulling stunts like this, and how long do you think our military enthusiasm keeps up? (Well for the non-religious, or believers in something besides Christianity, I imagine it would increase.) Get a clue, brass. Quickly. You keep up these new double standards and this recent discrimination against Christians, ("Discrimination" being that they are no longer allowed to attempt to evangelize their fellow soldiers.) and the greatest military power on earth will soon be "fundamentally transformed" into a weakened, involuntary and unrecognizable mere bureaucratic entity. Obviously you need a new commander-in-chief who sincerely believes in freedom and respects the fact we need to keep our finest keeping us free ("Our finest" in this case of course being Christians.) , but until that time, exert some brass cojones and re-embrace American military ethos. 

So to be clear Palin seems to think that if the military does NOT promote Evangelism that it will "be fundamentally transformed" into some pansy ass version of its present might? Gee nothing discriminatory about that kind of thinking.

The Facebook ghostwriter then linked to an article by Palin's favorite Fox News Christian crusader Chris Starnes throwing a tantrum over the fact that the VA apparently did not allow a volunteer to hand out gift bags with the words "Merry Christmas" or references to God or Jesus to the patients. (The story is over a week old, but Starnes and Palin apparently have run out of newer material.)

The whole thing sounds like a setup to me, as if it was just an attempt to get a little news coverage concerning a policy that has existed within the VA for some time now.

Because even if it existed pre-Obama, you can be damn sure that they will work overtime to make it seem brand new and part of his attempt to attack Christians and fundamentally transform America.

(By the way Palin DOES realize that this will not help her to sell any more copies of that loser book of hers, right?)

Update: Well guess who was not honest about the VA's policy: 

In order to be respectful of our Veterans religious beliefs, all donated holiday cards are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team of staff led by Chaplaincy services and determined if they are appropriate (non-religious) to freely distribute to patients. After the review is complete, the holiday cards that reference religious and/or secular tones are then distributed by Chaplaincy Service on a one-on-one basis if the patient agrees to the religious reference in the holiday card donation. The holiday cards that do not contain religious and/or secular tones are distributed freely to patients across the Health Care System. We regret this process was not fully explained to this group and apologize for any misunderstanding.

Well now that is certainly much different from way it was reported by Starnes, and certainly did not reflect Palin's assertions in her ghostwritten Facebook post.

Anybody surprised by that?

Greta Van Susteren interviews Sarah Plain about the Duck Dynasty debacle, phony wars on Christmas, and that time she was wrong about wanting Bristol to get married, while Palin struggles to stay conscious.

Greta starts off by introducing the Duck Dynasty brouhaha and mentions that Palin was one of the firs to get her panties in a twist over it.

Palin: "Yeah well this is becoming a discussion now I think outside of the legal realm, letting attorneys decide whether its a free speech in..the..of..the..rule of law or not (Someone's medication needs to be adjusted), and now it's becoming more of a discussion..uh..within the exchange of ideas in the public and private square, and in pop culture, whether we're allowed to express our personal opinions without..um..threats of intimidation, and mockery, and criticism, and loss of jobs, and revenue. It's becoming a greater, bigger issue than what it started out to be just a few days ago." (Somewhere Martin Bashir is banging his head against the wall in frustration.)

Greta seems to catch the hypocrisy flowing here, and says "I think people loosely use the term 'free speech' meaning that all the sudden you have people jump someone for saying something and that you don't jump others. I think that is sort of the inequity, either we are going to let people trash talk or we're not going to let people trash talk. but on the same token sort of let..if the market wants to be such that people don't want to watch someone so be it." (Carefully watch Palin's chest heave during this part and you can tell that she is seething that Greta came so close to calling her a hypocrite.)

Palin: " Well that's right. (It is?) And that's why I say that attorneys discuss and argue whether it's a legal free speech issue or not, but I'm hearing a lot of people start discussing now whether in our, especially pop culture venues, whether we're going to be allowed, without threats of a lot of intimidation, and loss of opportunities, to express our opinions." (Clearly somebody wasn't listening.)

So Greta tries again "It's one thing to express your opinion, do you have any problem about the manners in how he said it. I mean we don't talk about it on television much, but if you actually read the article there's a rather graphic and offen..at last I think offensive description of it. I mean there are two ways to say different things and his..in the article, and I know he's a graphic type guy, but do you have any objection on the manners aspect, how he said it?"

(Wait for it.)

Palin: "I haven't read the article. I don't know exactly how he said it".

(Did you get that? This woman who went all in to defend Phil Robertson in response to his horrific and insensitive language, not just against the LGBT population, but also concerning African Americans in the pre-civil rights era, has NEVER read the fucking interview!)

But wait, there's more.

Palin: "But Greta..uh..uh..what he was doing was in response to a question about a lifestyle that he disagrees with and yet he has said over and over again, he doesn't hate the person engaging in a lifestyle he disagrees with but he..he.. in response he was quoting the Gospel, so people who are so insulted, and offended by what he said evidently are offended by what he was quoting in the Gospels so you know that's a whole..that's another interesting aspect in all of this." 

(Yeah the book you all claim to get your sense of morality from is full of hate and prejudice, that is the "interesting aspect in all of this.")

Greta, who by the way now looks completely disgusted with Plain asks her about Cracker Barrel's response, and the Wasilla Wendigo mocks them for expressing their opinion and suggest they "thicken their skin."

At this point Van Sustern takes a break. (Probably so that she can fins a soundproof room nearby to scream out in frustration.) And when they come back Palin looks like she may have self medicated, looking for all the world like somebody JUST woke her up for the interview.

As Greta wades into the phony War on Christmas Plain sounds groggy and barely coherent, as she attempts to pimp her book and drum up outrage that Christians cannot force others to celebrate the holidays the way they want.

( I am going to transcribe a little more in a few minutes. I need more coffee, and possibly a moment to go into a room and do my own primal screaming.)

(I'm back.)

Greta asks Palin to elaborate on why there is this so-called the war on Chirstmas.

Palin: "I think that people are offended, some people, at the idea that we aren't 'all that,' we're not the center of the universe and we as fallible, mistake man, we should be serving something greater than self. Our world would be a lot healthier, more peaceful, safer place if we were all to be more selfless and serve something greater than self, ie our creator, and I think that idea is really offensive to a lot of people, especially the elites who kind of control much of the media, much of politics, because they do thing they're 'all that.' They think they're the hope, the change, the answer. They think they can create utopia, when you when most of us, who are humble enough to admit that man can't do that. We're..we're.. so fallen that we need a savior. We..we.. need something  to look to for strength, and hope, and peace, and joy, and a lot of us look to God for that."

(Okay did the woman who is on a book tour selling a book ghostwritten for her in order to keep her name in the limelight, and who claims to believe in a religion that argues the entire universe was created by God specifically for THEM, just suggest that those who do not think like she does are the arrogant selfish ones? I don't think I spent enough time doing my primal scream to get through this. By the way, she DOES realize she is being interviewed by a Sceintologist right?)

Greta decides at this point to suggest that there is room for everybody during the holidays and wants to know why people choose to "jab" each other about religion this time of year? Clearly this is directed at Palin's lack of  understanding toward those who do not celebrate the way she does, but does she get the hint? Hell no!

Palin: "They jab people, they waste a lot of money, like that billboard."

(This refers to the Atheist billboard that was brought up at the start of the interview.)

"Why didn't they take the money they were gonna spend on trying to offend Christians or anybody who believes in Jesus being the reason for the season (You know I think that is ONLY the Christians.) Why didn't they spend that money on helping the needy, or helping the poor, uh..I think that was a waste of resources." (Did she seriously just say that? )

At this point Great returns to discussing the ghostwritten book and ask Palin about the time she admitted she was wrong (There's a Christmas miracle for you.), that supposedly centered around when Bristol told her she was pregnant, (Which time?)

Palin: "Yeah, I think that is some of the heart of Christmas, being humble enough to admit that again we're 'not all that' we don't have all the answers. In that episode that I was reflecting upon when Bristol came to us to tell us that she was..uh..going to have a baby and Todd and I argued over what should she do next, I..you know..I thought she should get married, and Todd said 'No, there's already been a heap of trouble piled on her plate let's not encourage more heaping of more trouble on her plate.'  We argued about it and then I realized that he was right, and he WAS right. Humbled myself and told him that, and reflected upon that in the book and that again has a lot to do with that humbleness of Jesus being born in a manger, not as some lofty king who..um..came down amongst privilege and..um..in your face kinda lecturing of everybody else in the culture in which he was a part of. And..uh..much of the spirit of Christmas has to do with being humble enough to accept that and have that childlike faith to know that it was real." 

Holy shit! what the hell was all of that?

So she agreed that Todd was right about Bristol getting married because Jesus was born in a manger and you have to be a child to believe any of that was real? Is THAT the takeaway here?

Okay well there are a few more minutes of the interview and you all are welcome to listen to them and share with others what she says, but Gryphen is taking a mental health break here.

(It is not quite 8:00 AM here, but I am wondering if it is okay to start drinking this early since it's a holiday, and Jesus was born in a manger and everything?)

Oh please!

Courtesy of Brancy's blog.

So let me get this straight.  Yesterday some crazed Christian, most likely inspired by Sarah Palin's anti-Atheist warmongering, goes all Grand Theft Auto on an innocent Salvation Army bell ringer and today, totally by chance, an old picture of Tripp hanging out by a Salvation Army donation can, in what is clearly Anchorage, shows up on the internet?

Oh yeah, that is such a believable coincidence.

Salvation Army bell ringer gets assaulted for saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."

Courtesy of WCPO Cincinnati:  

Some might call it the “December Debate.” Do you greet people with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays?" An Arizona woman, who’s also a bell ringer for the Salvation Army, says she was assaulted for choosing the wrong one. 

Kristina Vindiola says a woman hit her outside a Phoenix Walmart after she said "Happy Holidays." 

"The lady looked at me,” said Vindiola. “I thought she was going to put money in the kettle. She came up to me and said, 'Do you believe in God?' And she says, ‘You're supposed to say Merry Christmas,' and that's when she hit me." 

Vindiola says the woman hit her in the arm and then went inside the store.

WTF? Since when did the Republican "War on Inclusive Christmas" turn physical?

And what kind of a self identified Christian thinks it is okay to strike another human being simply for demonstrating religious tolerance? Do these people have any understanding of Jesus whatsoever?

That lady should take legal action. And she is.

....the bell ringer who said she was assaulted now plans to take legal action. 

"She should've just been happy I said 'Happy Holidays,' but I got hit because I didn't say 'Merry Christmas,'" Vindiola said.

Good for her!

Now if we can just find some way to make this Sarah Palin's fault.

Here is Megyn Kelly last night whitewashing, if you will excuse the pun, her ridiculous remarks about Santa and Jesus being Caucasian.

"In kicking off the lighthearted segment I offered a tongue in cheek message for any kids watching, saying that Santa, who I joked is a real person whose race is identifiable, is white.."

"Lighthearted?"

"Tongue in cheek?"

"Joked?"

Here is the originally broadcast exchange from Wednesday. Does any of THAT seem "lighthearted" or "tongue in cheek" to any of you?

But wait, there's more.

"Well this would be funny if it were not so telling about our society, In particular the knee jerk instinct by so many to race bait, and to assume the worst in people. Especially people employed by the very powerful Fox News channel."

And then there's this:

"By the way I also did say that Jesus was white. As I have learned in the past two days, that is far from settled. (Actually it IS settled. Scholars agree that, if he did indeed live, he was most certainly NOT white!) For me the fact that an off hand jest I made during a segment about whether Santa should be replaced by a penguin, has now become a national firestorm, says two things. Race is still an incredibly volatile issue in this country. (Which those who don't watch Fox News, and keep hearing that racism is over, would already know.) And Fox News, and yours truly, are big targets for many people."

Yes Fox News is a BIG target for many people, because they were the catalyst for the dumbing down of journalism, and remain a place brimming over with bottomless troughs of misinformation, partisan attacks on their political enemies, and bloviating morons who speak authoritatively about subjects that they clearly do not understand.

You know, like the ethnicity of certain religious and historic figures.

Face it "Little Miss I Can't Spell Meghan," you said something incredibly stupid and you got mocked for it.

You work at Fox News, you were hired to say ignorant and factually wrong things. Surely that is written into your contract somewhere!

You have just been given a little leeway by the media because you're pretty, and compared to the usual knuckle dragging morons you seemed relatively reasonable.

Relatively.

However now that America realizes that they gave you too much credit, you can expect more mocking in the future.

On the plus side now you have something to commiserate with Sarah Palin over.

Palin continues to sell her Christmas time snake oil on the tent revival circuit. This time over at Pat Robertson's Alzheimer riddled network CBN.

Click the "she's a man baby" photo to play video.

Courtesy of CBN: 

Palin told CBN News the book is a rallying cry for Christians to stand up against those who want keep faith out of the public square. "We were founded as written in our charters of liberty, in the documents that created America," Palin said.  (No, actually no we were not.)

"We're founded on a Judeo-Christian faith that would allow forever the right to express or respect for faith in America."Palin warned those rights are under attack from atheists. She has a name for them in the book: "Joe McScrooge." (Really has fetish for the name "Joe" doesn't she?)

"Joe McScrooge armed with an attorney is quite dangerous," Palin proclaimed. 

"Joe McScrooge?" Did she get the Dickens and Disney characters mixed up?

Palin said the situation has her concerned. 

"The road that we are on today is too many of those angry atheists armed with attorneys would try to take away that freedom to express faith. It's going to end in ruin unless we do something about it," she warned. (Nobody wants to take away anybody's right to express their faith. We just want the right to not have to see it displayed in government facilities and on public property, so that our rights to worship, or believe, or not believe are preserved. Just like the Founding Fathers wanted.)

That's where the fight comes in. Palin, who knows a thing or two about adversity, (Well she should, she has been fighting against the truth getting out for quite a few years now.) is urging Christians not to be intimidated. 

"I want this book to be a call to action, to take steps for school districts, for communities, for business owners, for families to understand they don't have to hide their faith. They don't have to be embarrassed by it," she said. (Since when are Christians embarrassed about their faith?)

Palin added this isn't just about fighting lawsuits. 

"This war on Christmas is really the tip of the spear when it comes to a greater battle that's brewing," Palin told CBN News. "And that battle that's brewing is those who would want to take God out of our society, out of our culture, which will lead to ruin as history has proven." (Please don't try to teach us about history. That is like a legless guy giving dance lessons.)

Palin also sees big government as part of the problem and makes it clear that that includes the Obama administration. (Actually in Palin's reality there WAS no big governemtn problem before Obama. And remember, she wants to teach us about history.)

"To tell you the truth, I don't know what they're doing right," Palin told CBN News. (Ended two wars, saved the economy, got millions of Americans health care, killed Bin Laden, yep there are certainly NO examples of the administration doing anything right.)

In her book, she says without a faith in Christ, she wouldn't have been able to stand through those tough times when she ran for vice president. (I think she is confusing "faith in Christ" with "several lines of blow.")

"There is no way I would be standing if it weren't for that faith that I adopted as a kid, asking Christ into my life, putting my life in His hands, saying, 'God you're my Creator. I've got to believe that You know more about destiny than I do, so, heaven forbid I try to orchestrate it myself,'" she said. "'Lord, send me. I'll go.'" 

If that last part were true she would have dropped off the face of the planet already.  I mean how much more can a deity do after orchestrating a failed campaign, a failed reality show, a failed marriage, getting her kicked off of Fox News so she had to crawl back on her hands and knees for recurring guest spot at a fraction of her original pay, maker her hair fall out, make everybody in her home state despise her, and now slowly drain the nutrients out of her body until she looks like a bewigged version of the Crypt Keeper, before she gets the damn hint?

I don't know if any of your noticed but Palin seems to have orchestrated enough bulk sales of her book to bring back up the Amazon Best Seller's list. I mean it is still nothing to write home, or another book, about, but it is still definitely the result of somebody doing a little wheeling and dealing.

Hmm, now where would she have had to read to realize that she was being mocked for having her book so low on the the Amazon page?

Holiday greeting flow chart.

Source

By they way the thing that people seem to conveniently forget is that the so-called "War on Christmas" has been waging for hundreds of years.

Courtesy of Time Magazine:

The front lines of the War on Christmas were originally manned by none other than the Puritans — and not on the side many conservative news anchors might think. Objecting to the yuletide festivities on the grounds that they didn't square with the Bible's teachings, in 1659 the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned the holiday; it wasn't reinstated until 1681. For a war often blamed on secular terrorists, these are some pious roots. 

Since then, the perpetrators of the struggle against Santa have taken on many forms; just about every major bugbear on the radical left has at one point or another been blamed. In the beginning, of course, there were the Jews. "The whole record of the Jewish opposition to Christmas...shows the venom and directness of [their] attack," wrote automaker and notorious anti-Semite Henry Ford in 1921, citing efforts around the country to silence Christmas carolers and suppress demonstrations of religion in schools. By the 1950s, blame had shifted to the Communists. "One of the techniques now being applied by the Reds to weaken the pillar of religion in our country is the drive to take Christ out of Christmas," screamed a 1959 pamphlet (the overpunctuated title: "There Goes Christmas?!") issued by the newly-formed John Birch Society. The society also assailed United Nations "fanatics" who were trying to "poison the 1959 Christmas season with their high-pressure propaganda." 

Before it became part of mainstream conservative punditry, the leading proponent of the War on Christmas was a former magazine writer and editor named Peter Brimelow. A virulent anti-immigration crusader whose views were considered extreme by mainstream conservative journals like National Review, Brimelow founded a website called VDare.com that soon was at the forefront of the fight to sanctify Christmas cheer. Beginning in 1999, Brimelow ran a competition to spotlight offenders in the War on Christmas. The inaugural villain was the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which earned the dubious honor for hosting a holiday party dubbed "A Celebration of Holiday Traditions." The following year, Amazon.com became a target of Brimelow's wrath for subjecting consumers to the nondenominational greeting "Happy Holidays!" (In 2003, VDare was classified as a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center for providing a platform for white nationalist viewpoints.) 

Outrage over alleged restrictions against Christmas emblems imposed by stores like Wal-Mart and Sears led conservative mouthpieces like Sean Hannity and O'Reilly to take up the cause in earnest. "I think it's all part of the secular progressive agenda...to get Christianity and spirituality out of the public square," O'Reilly said on Nov. 18, 2005. "Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage." In an interview with National Review, Gibson lay blame for the phenomenon at the feet of the American Civil Liberties Union: "Generally there is an ACLU component to the Christmas controversy." 

So there you have it: the war on Christmas is a godless plot cooked up by a cabal of latte-sipping liberals, greedy retail tycoons, bearded ACLU communists and Ban Ki-moon acolytes who secretly gather in Bay Area synagogues to smoke pot, deface Bibles and perform abortions. 

This was a ridiculous controversy in 1659, and it remains a ridiculous controversy today. 

It is used by manipulative conservatives to enrage the low information Christians into believing that they are being persecuted.  Only those raised to believe that they are martyrs would fall for it, but churches are overflowing with those who believe that very thing.

Prepare and fertilize the soil when they are young, and you can plant whatever seeds you want to as they grow older, and the paranoia and sense of persecution will grow right along with them.

Christian conservatives have got playing victim down to a science. Gee, if only I could think of an example of someone who did that.

Courtesy of Salon: 

Religious freedom and separation of church and state have always been hated concepts to the religious right. Indeed, it’s fair to say that the religious right exists to fight any legal or cultural support for people who don’t want their narrow definition of Christianity foisted on them. From objecting to gay marriage to trying to wedge creationism in schools, the religious right exists as a political movement for the purpose of stripping away religious freedom and establishing their religious beliefs as the dominant organizing force in law, politics and culture. 

So why then are we hearing all these people who live their lives attacking religious freedom complaining all the time that “religious freedom” is under attack from liberals? Whydoes every religious-right publication and event echo the claim that right-wing Christians are somehow being stripped of the very right to religious freedom the right has worked tirelessly to take from everyone else for decades? 

The simple answer is they’re lying. Claiming the mantle of victimhood is so politically potent that religious-right leaders are going to do it, no matter how untrue it is, because, to be blunt, they’re not held back by any moral interest in honesty. Getting Grandma to think she’s going to lose her church is a great way to get her to sign her Social Security check over to your organization. 

The longer answer is that the religious right has concocted a new strategy to squelch religious freedom: By redefining “religious freedom” to mean its opposite. The hope is that by repeatedly using the term “religious freedom” when they mean “giving the Christian right power to impose their faith on others,” they can eventually drain the phrase of all its meaning and finally, after decades of fighting secularism, make it easier for the religious right to strip away individual protections for religion. In other words, they hope by saying that up is down long enough, the public and the courts will finally believe it. 

This attitude—that their “religious freedom” can only be protected if they get to foist their faith on everyone else—is nakedly obvious every year when the whining about the mythical “war on Christmas” begins. Needless to say, there is no war on Christmas. There is no effort whatsoever to prevent anyone from celebrating Christmas, buying Christmas presents, going to mass on Christmas, or playing that Manheim Steamroller record until you want to claw your ears out. Without fail, every example the right comes up with to prove there’s a war on Christmas is, in fact, something else: An attempt to recognize that not everyone is a Christian and respect that there are multiple holidays people may be celebrating in lieu of, or in addition to, Christmas. 

This belief that Christians, particularly right-wing Christians, are entitled to be acknowledged at the exclusion of everyone else and entitled to have their holidays held out as more important than everyone else’s cropped up immediately after Thankgiving, right on schedule this year. The National Republican Congressional Committeetweeted out a picture of a T-shirt they’re selling that says, “’Happy Holidays’ is what liberals say,” in Comic Sans font, of course. On the back it reads, “Merry Christmas.” The “joke” doesn’t make sense unless the viewer agrees with the premise that conservative Christians are better than everyone else, and in order to honor how much more important they are, all other holidays and faith traditions need to be hidden away, as if they’re shameful.

 You know it may seem as if these people are simply ridiculous and that the only appropriate response is to mock them, but I have to remind myself that these people are potentially dangerous, and that if they WERE to get their way in establishing Christianity as the state sponsored religion, that the social injustices and oppression would start piling up almost immediately.

That idea, which seems less and less likely as our population becomes less and less religious, is still one that keeps me on edge and my attention focused on the various strategies utilized by religious groups attempting to hold onto power or gain more influence over out education, politics, and media.

Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin may be driving around in a clown car, but there are more nefarious goings on in the shadows that their bulbous noses and fright wigs may distract us from noticing. 

Celebrating the Sarah Palin tradition of making tinsel covered mountains out of culturally sensitive molehills.

Trig gets trotted out for a Christmas photo op.

Courtesy of the Christmas Ho-ho-ho's Facebook page:  

Is there any doubt it's imperative to protect the heart of Christmas? Take a look at this article about an elementary school in Texas banning Christmas trees and the colors red and green from a “winter” party. Just like I write about it “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” every day we see stories like this one, and we need to stiffen our spines, say “enough is enough,” and hold on to REAL hope, America! The real hope that IS the message of Christmas. We can remember and capture that spirit of true hope during this holiday season and commit to live it out every single day. I promise you, it works!

Yes the best way to protect freedom in this country is to  marginalize and ostracize those who do not celebrate the Christmas, nor share the same faith, as the REAL Americans.

Of course this story was reported by Palin's pet Fox News reporter, and fellow Christmas Commando, Todd Starnes, who overreacted as if children were having their toys literally ripped from their hands: 

An elementary school in Frisco, Texas is believed to be the first in the state to violate “The Merry Christmas Law” after they banned Christmas trees and the colors red & green from an upcoming “winter” party. (The "Merry Christmas Law" is the bill signed into law by Rick Perry in June which, despite the 1st Amendment, allows Texas schools to say Merry Christmas, and display holiday decorations representing any religion. Can hardly wait until the Islamic community tries to get their local public school to decorate for Ramadan. THEN we'll see how inclusive this law really is.)

Boys and girls who attend the Nichols Elementary School “Winter Party” will not be able to make any reference to Christmas or any other religious holiday. Christmas trees are also banned – along with the colors red and green.

It should be noted that this party is being put on by the their local PTA and the guidelines are not coming from the school district. It should also be noted that each school and PTA are allowed to make their own rules for their parties.

Kind of sounds like that "freedom" thing Palin is always going on about, doesn't it?

Down toward the bottom of the page Starnes does manage to let the Principal of the school explain the thinking behind the guidelines:

“She [the principal] said they didn’t want to offend any families and since each family donates money they feel this is the best policy."

So the PTA, and the principal, are trying to be inclusive, and make everybody, despite their cultural or religious background, feel comfortable. 

But hey, Fox News has a War on Christmas to pimp, and Sarah Palin has books to sell, so fuck them right?

Starnes style of "journalism" has made at least one school in Georgia feel terrorized by his harassment and histrionic misreporting of "facts" about their school: 

A school district in Georgia blasted Fox News on Tuesday and said that they had been “terrorized” after one of the network’s radio hosts falsely reported that Christmas cards had been “confiscated.” 

In a Tuesday report, Fox News radio host Todd Starnes turned his daily outrage to allegations that students at Brooklet Elementary School had returned from the Thanksgiving holiday to find that the school’s administration had decided to “confiscate the Christmas cards” that teachers had posted outside classrooms. 

Starnes branded the schools’ actions as “Christmas card censorship.” 

Brooklet Principal Marlin Baker told WSAV that the “censorship” charge was just not true and that Starnes didn’t bother checking the facts before publishing his report. 

“The decision to move the poster had nothing, absolutely nothing, at all to do with any type of religious conversation that is going on in the county,” Martin explained. 

The principal said that the Christmas card poster had been moved to a faculty work room in order to accommodate the privacy request of one teacher. 

And now the school has been flooded with angry calls and emails because of the misreporting.

Gee no wonder Palin likes him so much.

Sarah Palin at Liberty University. Update: Palin responds to Bashir resignation.

Look! It's the ghost of false pregnancies past!

Courtesy of Liberty University:

In a sit-down, conversational interview on stage with President Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Vice President for Communications Johnnie Moore, Palin talked about her motivation to keep standing for “time-tested truths” — the same truths Liberty upholds — when she is attacked by the mainstream media for her conservative views. (Really? Liberty University stands up for the fake pregnancy stories and misrepresentation of our country's values that Sarah Palin stands up for?)

“This is what inspires me — you,” she told the arena of more than 10,000 students. “ … What inspires me and allows me to keep going and standing strong is being in a place like this.” 

Courtesy of Facebook

“You guys are doing an awesome job; it’s amazing, the infrastructure, additions to the amenities, what a wonderful force for good in this part of the nation and for the world,” Palin said. 

Coming off a 15-city tour for her new best-seller, “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” (Is it really still a "best seller" when it is at number 664 on the Amazon best seller list?)  she talked about the larger message that the Christmas story brings today. 

“My book is about protecting the heart of Christmas, which is really about protecting the heart of America,” (That's right kids the pagan holiday Saturnalia, today mostly represented by the Turkish St. Nicholas, and celebrated by plunging ourselves into debt in order to buy the newest, most expensive factory assembled  soon to be obsolete electronics, equals America.) she said. “Because the message of Christmas is the message of hope and change, not the stuff you hear coming out of Washington. (Wait, what?) … It’s the Judeo-Christian faith that provided all the foundation in our charters of liberty, our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence. It was a faith–filled people who understood how blessed our land was and the opportunities we have, our wonderful work ethic, all the things that have made America so exceptional.” (Such as killing off its original aboriginal inhabitants, raping the land for its precious minerals and resources, and polluting its air so that our children are born with allergies and birth defects.)

She said the tour is about more than a book; it is about restoring our nation’s principles. (Of greed and commercialism.)

“That’s why I appreciate Liberty University,” she said. “You will be a force for good, understanding the importance of Christian faith and a Christian education. You are the future leaders of this country.” (Let us all hope that's not true.)

Students submitted their own questions for Palin, which ranged from who her biggest inspiration is (her youngest son, Trig, who has Down syndrome and has taught her “the world’s standards of perfection are not God’s standards of perfection”) to her family’s favorite Christmas memories (eating moose chili and traveling “over the river and through the woods” by snow machines). ("Over the river and through the woods?" Hmm I wonder if they are off to "Grandfather's house?" And I certainly hope that the snowmachine knows the way through the "white and drifted snow." I swear there is not one original thought in this imbecile's head.)

She left students with a lesson she’s learned as a leader: 

“Fear not. Again, it’s that message of Christmas; remember the angel came to Mary in a situation with less than ideal circumstances (Yeah she was knocked up and needed to explain it to her husband.) … and that message needs to be received by each one of you here today as you get out there in a pretty rough and tumble world. You’re going to be inundated in the workplace with cultural and societal pressures trying to beat you down (That's Palin speak for "educate you.")… remember that message from that angel. … The greater message was that everybody is made so uniquely, with certain gifts and talents and passions and interests for a reason, to get out there and do good for the world. … When it comes to families, when it comes to jobs, please remember that you do have purpose and you do have destiny — God don’t make no junk. ... Success is letting Him shine through you so that others will be attracted to that light — the eternal destiny is really what matters.” 

Looking back at where God has taken her, Palin still calls her rise to a position of leadership “bizarre,” (Well there's something we can agree on.) but credits it as God’s work. (And here he thought the platypus was the worst of his screw ups.)

“Put your life in God’s hands — you never know where you’re going to end up.”

Yeah you could end up promoting a poorly conceived ghostwritten book on a book tour that is  falling apart faster than that space station in the movie "Gravity."

If there were actually 10,000 students there you KNOW they were compelled to attend. No way do 10,000 young people, even Liberty University brain washed young people, voluntarily turn out to have their IQ's lowered by this simpleton.

I wonder where she will go next? Perhaps there is a local prison who could lock there inmates into a room to hear her demonstrate her lack of knowledge about America and Christmas?

Or better yet an institute for the insane. THAT would make her feel right at home.

Update: Here is the video of Palin discussing Bashir from Fox and Friends. 

And here is a synopsis provided by Mediaite: 

“In this world, you are going to be hurt and attacks will come your way,” Palin said. “I just hope attacks like that doesn’t make people hesitate.” 

“One of the things about his attack is it was scripted,” Steve Doocy observed. “The people at NBC had a chance to review it and said – they obviously, or apparently, all agreed.” 

“It was refreshing to see, though, that many in the media did come out and say, ‘Look, our standards have to be higher than this,” Palin observed. 

Brian Kilmeade asked if the Sarah Palin of 2008 would have reacted then to this manner of attack as she did. “At this point I’m used to it,” Palin replied. “That’s kind of a sad state of affairs to have to admit that, at this point, I am used to it.” 

“Six years ago, I probably would have been personally hurt by such an attack,” she revealed. 

Asked if anyone representative from a women’s advocacy group had reached out to her, Palin noted that she never “heard from one feminist.” 

“I’m sure they’re getting to it,” Elisabeth Hasselbeck suggested sarcastically. 

Palin concluded by disclosing that she feels “callused” and is no longer surprised by these types of attacks on her character.

Okay I just threw up n my mouth a little.

ANYBODY who believes that Palin is the victim of ANYTHING is a moron. The woman has been playing this victim card since she was a child, and the fact that there are still so many who cannot see through it pisses me off.

Jon Stewart takes on the faux War on Christmas. And oh yes, he has Sarah Palin right in his sites. (I'm sorry I mean surveyor's marks.)

Click image to play video.

So good, and so, so true.

I think somebody needs to send this flowchart to Fox News.

Source

Of course I am not at all sure that the Religious Right can understand such a confusing flow chart, but it's worth a shot.

By the way Christians if you want to experience actual modern day persecution, try being an Atheist.

Jon Stewart sums up the magic of Christmas.

Hmm, now who could he be talking about?

It looks like Sarah Palin is not the only opportunistic conservative to misjudge people's desire to see Christmas hijacked by the religious Right Wing.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The power of prayer has failed to save The Christmas Candle, the new release from Rick Santorum’s faith based film studio, EchoLight. 

The Christmas Candle, set in the fictional English village of Gladbury and billed as “a timeless holiday film for the entire family”, attracted widespread critical scorn as well as dismal box-office results, having grossed just over $1.6m after two weeks on release. 

The bad reviews were perhaps predictable, with the New York Daily News saying: “This odd Dickens-meets-Sunday-school movie is as artless as the setup is muddled”, while the New York Post judged: “This throwback, made-for-TV-style film takes the easy way out in a cheesy climax, but its resolute quaintness may appeal to the kind of viewers who regard electricity as disturbingly newfangled.” The Arizona Republic called it “resolutely stiff and hollow”. 

Former presidential candidate Santorum, who took to the media shortly before the film’s release to lambast Hollywood as “the devil’s playground” will presumably find it easy to shrug off critical brickbats; less easy to swallow will be the ignominious box office results. Its opening weekend, on a small “platform” release on just 5 screens, took a respectable $68,000; but in its second week, when it expanded to over 390, it took less than $1m. The crucial screen average was an extremely moderate $2,500, putting it below the likes of The Best Man Holiday, Narco Cultura, and bodybuilding doco Generation Iron – and far beneath Catching Fire and Philomena.

When will these idiots realize that we like Christmas just the way it is, and will not allow them to turn it into some hyper religious, overly preachy holiday, that celebrates events that most intelligent people have a healthy skepticism ever took place?

We like Santa Claus, and mistletoe, and eggnog, and presents. We don't like guilt, intolerance, and having to listen to boring sermons.

So stop trying to screw it all up for everybody!