Establishment of Religion? Let the Reason Prevail….and stuff

MoonHowler

Potomaclocal.com:

MANASSAS, Va. — The Freedom From Religion Foundation erected a banner next to a nativity display at Nelson Park in Manassas.

The group posted this to our site:

A FFRF Winter Solstice banner has been placed by a local FFRF member next to the crèche scene in Nelson Park in Manassas, Va. FFRF received a permit from the city for its “Let Reason Prevail” banner to counter the religious exhibit. It will be displayed through Dec. 31.

FFRF’s 7½-by-3-foot banner states: “At this Season of the Winter Solstice, LET REASON PREVAIL. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth & superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

FFRF wishes that the time will come when it won’t have to put up its banners in this manner.

Nelson Park is located near the intersection of Sudley Road and Grant Avenue.

The group regularly posts a similar banner in the city each year, and the FFRF group obtained the proper permits from the city to erect the banner, said Manassas spokeswoman Patty Prince.

The city may only restrict time, place, and length of the display of banners through the permitting process. The city cannot control the content of a banner, other than to ban profanity on banners, added Prince.

Let’s see, which side do I chose…how about none?

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Peace on Earth, Good Will Towards (Wo)Men Christmas 2015

MoonHowler

wiccan Christmas

 

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas or a joyous season for whatever they celebrate.

Peace on earth seems to be in short supply, as does good will towards men and women, particularly those with whom we disagree.

Hopefully for one day, good people can put way their angst and think about what is really important to them.

What will your holiday meal be like?  The Howlers will be having a cookout tomorrow afternoon on the deck.  If this is global warming, I plan to enjoy it with hot dogs and really good hamburgers….none of that ordinary reindeer meat stuff.

 

Separating the sheep from the goats: some Thanksgiving thoughts

MoonHowler

pilgrim road sign

Notice who is on the run–Pilgrims.  A gentle reminder that unless we are Native American, all of us were once immigrants when  our ancestors  came to this  country.

Please remember that there are people in the world who do not have adequate  food, clothing or shelter.  People in war-torn countries have it the worst.  They are often victims of their government’s greed or  ideology.

Some people want immigrants and refugees to go back to where they came from.  Sometimes that just isn’t possible.  Homes and infrastructure are just gone.

 

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The Starbucks cup late night laughs

MoonHowler

It seems that Donald Trump jumped on the wrong horse for this one! He looks even more like a fool. Meanwhile, those who don’t think red and green is Christmasy enough…well, most of America is not with you. Suggestion, write Merry Christmas on your own cup. Problem solved.

Starbucks has gotten a huge boost out of someone’s stupidity.  The local stores are slammed with customers.  Their Christmas merchandise is flying off the shelves in all the Starbucks lobbies.  I need to get up there this afternoon before it is all picked over.

Do you all this some marketing genius at Corporate thought this one up?   Meanwhile, ho ho ho.

 

Joy Woodhouse blasts pundit sons on CSPAN for fighting

MoonHowler

“Oh God, it’s Mom,” gasped  CSPAN’s Dallas Woodhouse.  He and his brother were both arguing on the air when they took a call from Joy.  Apparently the boys had caused some unpleasantness over Thanksgiving.

I guess she told them!  I laughed when she said she had hoped they wouldn’t be there.  How many people have these kinds of discussions when they go home for holidays?  My mother wouldn’t allow politics or religion to be discussed at the table.  That ruined everyone’s fun. She also used to threaten to knock our heads together when we fought.

Have no fear though.  Someone always managed to be dysfunctional.  Sometimes it was me or at least I got the blame for it.

What’s the worst you have done or seen done at a holiday gathering of friends and relatives?

Washingtonpost.com

The War on Christmas? There isn’t one!

MoonHowler

As a member of the club, the Christian club, that is, I have never felt that I was being victimized or that I was at war.  I grew up in a small city that was about as Christian as it gets.  The Levys were the only non-Christians I ever knew.  Even the Unitarians had wreaths on their church that was about 2 blocks from my house.   People move around more nowadays and small southern cities just aren’t as isolated as they used to be.

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Open Thread………………………………….Monday, December 2

MoonHowler


From Mother Nature Network:

Ice is known by a wide range of identities in nature, from tiny snowflakes to Chicago-sized icebergs and canyon-covering glaciers. Still, a neatly shaped circle of frozen, rotating river water is strange to see, even in a wintry place like North Dakota.
The video above shows such a circle spinning serenely atop the Sheyenne River, where retired engineer George Loegering was out hunting with relatives on Nov. 23. “At first I thought, ‘No way!’ It was surreal,” Loegering tells the Associated Press, which published the video this week. “You looked at it and you thought, ‘How did it do that?'”

The summer solstice June 21, 2013

MoonHowler

 

solstice_map_june2013_600

earthsky.org:

Why celebrate the solstice?  Cultures universally have had markers, holidays, and alignments – all related to the solstice.

It has been universal among humans to treasure this time of warmth and light.

For us in the modern world, the solstice is a time to recall the reverence and understanding that early people had for the sky.  Some 5,000 years ago, people placed huge stones in a circle on a broad plain in what’s now England and aligned them with the June solstice sunrise.

We may never comprehend the full significance of Stonehenge.  But we do know that knowledge of this sort wasn’t isolated to just one part of the world.  Around the same time Stonehenge was being constructed in England, two great pyramids and then the Sphinx were built on Egyptian sands.  If you stood at the Sphinx on the summer solstice and gazed toward the two pyramids, you’d see the sun set exactly between them.

Did you do anything special?  Did today seem longer than any other day?  Mine started off way too early.  I am fortunate I can make up for lost  sleep.

Time to get ready for the super moon this weekend.

A Tree Fighting Ceremony

MoonHowler

 

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The Foxies must have zipped down route 7 and visited the Loudoun County Courthouse in Leesburg.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee has offended the Foxies for doing what his Republican predecessor did, sending an invitation for a Tree Lighting Ceremony.  Lincoln Chafee has defiled Christmas!  The nerve! 

As the Foxies ring the death knell for Christmas, we are reminded that the Pilgrims actually banned the observation of Christmas and fined anyone decorating 5 shillings.  Oooooops.  Christmas Day has not always been the biggie that it is today. 

Why do people want to fight over this issue?  There is no War on Christmas.  Seasons Greetings, Xmas,  and Happy Holidays have been around since I was a kid at least and probably a lot before that.  Let me assure you, ‘since I was a kid’  is a long, long time ago.  

In addition to being a religious holiday, Christmas is also an American holiday.  Why?  Because Americans like it and want it to be an American Holiday.  Christmas is both religious and secular.  The religious part of Christmas is personal and based on one’s religion.  The American part of Christmas depends on customs and local culture.  People of all faiths participate in decorations, carolling, parades and above all, the office Christmas parties.  Americans invite their friends and neighbors in for holiday cheer or something warm to drink.  They don’t check a person’s religion before extending an invitation. 

The Foxies need to let up and quit stirring up trouble where none exists.  Let’s let Americans and Christians continue with the reason for the season, whatever theirs happens to be.

Mayor Cory Booker: The Snow Storm Hero of Newark

MoonHowler

Newark Mayor Cory Booker is certainly the star of the giant east coast December snow storm.  He is twittering all over the place and out there rescuing people in destress.  He might even be wearing a superman cape.  He has delivered diapers to a family who was out, helped shovel out cars,

According to the New York Daily News:

Trapped in Newark after Blizzard 2010? Mayor Cory Booker wants to rescue you – and he’s only a tweet away.

Booker has been tweeting up a storm, personally responding to tweets from citizens stranded by snowed-over streets. For days, Newark’s hero mayor has helped dig out buried cars and snowy roads – and even delivered diapers to a stranded Newark family.

“Highland Ave b/w Bal and Berk not touched yet. My sis can’t get out to get diapers,” Timothy Hester frantically tweeted Booker. Hester lives in Virginia and tweeted the mayor on behalf of his snowbound sister Barbara, who lives in Newark.

The valiant mayor tweeted back, “I’m delivering the diapers now. We will get to her street soon.”

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An Update from Leesburg Courthouse

MoonHowler

It looks like everyone is going by the rules….but is there more to it?

Nativity Scene (And More) At Leesburg Courthouse: MyFoxDC.com

 

 

I find it odd that they continue to allow any displays at all.  On the other hand, is a Christmas tree a religious symbol? I have always thought of Christmas trees as a symbol of the season.  Its origins were pagan and at least in America, Christmas is a national holiday.  The tree is its symbol.  Christians do more and have their own special relics and artifacts of the season.  And that’s a good thing.  But for right now, I like the tree being neutral, like wreaths and candy canes.  Anyone who objects to Christmas trees, wreaths and candy canes is just a grinch and trying to make an issue.

The Solstice Treat: Full Eclipse of the Full Moon

MoonHowler

This Tuesday brings a special treat for Winter Solstice.  Not only is it Solstice but also there will be a full moon.  And it just gets better.  There will be a full eclipse of the full moon.  The eclipse starts  on Tuesday morning, Dec. 21st, at 1:33 am. As it begins, the earth’s shadow will appear as a dark-red bite at the edge of the moon.  It takes about an hour for the “bite” to swallow the entire Moon. Total eclipse is  at 02:41 am  and lasts for 72 minutes.

If you aren’t planning to enjoy the entire eclipse in the dead of winter in the middle of the night, choose this moment: 03:17 am.  That’s when the moon will be  displaying  the most vivid  shades of coppery red.  The next full eclipse of a full moon on Solstice will be December 21, 2094.  I expect to miss that one.  This Solstice is a very special celestial treat, if the weather holds out.

 

 

Interactive charts and maps

The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas

MoonHowler

Christmas is a goner. Just ask Gretchen the Grinch. Jon Stewart brings reality back. He reminds us all that Christmas survived the Rome Empire.  Totally great cartoon. 

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The Gretch Who Saved the War on Christmas
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Does it matter that cards we receive say Seasons Greetings?  Does it matter that sales clerks we don’t know tell us to have a great holiday instead of Merry Christmas?   Is it something to be paranoid over?  Is there really a war on Christmas? 

Dreaming of a Leesburg Christmas: Have a holly jolly atheist Christmas?

MoonHowler

The Leesburg Courthouse is always a place to look for some good old Christmas spirit and good old controversy.   Every year it seems warring factions go up against each other over the right to display Christmas decorations on the Courthouse lawn.  This year some decisions were made early–back in September even. 

A little refresher course is provided:

 

According to TDB (September):

The policy that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to maintain provides equal access for unattended, semi-permanent displays on the grounds of the historic courthouse in Leesburg.

Displays are open to all who apply, but the number of displays is limited to the ten locations on the grounds that have been designated as display sites. The Board also voted to limit the period of time for filing a display application to no earlier than one year before the date the display would begin.

The Office of the County Administrator has received six applications to date for displays, five of which are for the 2010 holiday season. Information about how to apply for a display on the courthouse grounds is online at www.loudoun.gov/courthousegrounds.

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A Yuletide Gift of Kindness–Ted Gup Learns an Incredible Family Secret

MoonHowler
Sam Stone aka "B. Virdot"

This month’s Smithsonian Magazine features the story of B. Virdot’s mysterious letter in the Canton, Ohio newspaper during the Great Depression. 

The year was 1933 and christmas was just a week away. Deep in the trough of the Great Depression, the people of Canton, Ohio, were down on their luck and hungry. Nearly half the town was out of work. Along the railroad tracks, children in patched coats scavenged for coal spilled from passing trains. The prison and orphanage swelled with the casualties of hard times.

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