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The orange “Santa hat” on the “O” is not festive, nor seasonal. It is annoying. I am not cheered or even amused by its presence.

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The British have some wonderful Christmas customs that have survived the incursion of Christianity, especially the Puritan party poopers. Stealing customs from the Celts, Germans, and Scandinavians, they have created a wonderful holiday that I fondly remember from time spent there.The bird is a European robin that is featured on British Christmas cards, as it is a Winter bird in England, unlike the fair-weather laggard of the same name in America.

If you read the Harry Potter books you will get a taste, but not the full effect of a British Christmas. A full-on Christmas dinner is wretched excess to the n^th degree – Thanksgiving on steroids.

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They have been quiet all year on the Missile Defense project, but I suspect another attempt on last year’s target.

Don’t worry, kids, they’ll miss again, if it even launches.

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As Julia would say, the New York Times is “Shocked! Shocked I tell you” to find out that NSA is “hoovering up” everything available, and not being precise in its collection methods. Precision is so…law enforcement. Cops knock on doors; the military knocks down buildings.

Once again: there is a major difference between the military and the police. The police worry about rights; the military doesn’t. The police get in trouble for killing innocent people; the military considers them “collateral damage”.

This difference is why there are so many restrictions about using the military within the United States and outside of the context of a declared war. The Shrubbery wants to convince everyone we are at war, so he can ignore rights and the damage of his actions.

You are not going to do permanent damage to terrorists with the military. You have to hunt down terrorists and that requires investigative tactics not military tactics. This bungling around spying on half the universe and playing with Geiger counters in mosque parking lots is not making us safer, nor is it finding Osama bin Laden. This is the abuse of power just to prove he can do it.

Maybe I should find a portrait of Charles I of England and march outside the White House to remind the resident what the tradition is for men who believe they are absolute monarchs among English-speaking nations. That issue was settled in 1215 and restated to Charles in 1649 prior to his beheading for treason.

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Rather than having a traditional crèche by the church my local SBC church sponsors a “live Nativity display” at a local shopping center. This isn’t a mall, it is a “U” of stores around the parking lot, and the display is on an empty lot on the main street.

While it is not quite as cold as Bethlehem at this time of year, the “angels on high” are out in a 10 knot North wind at 45°, which is a near freezing wind chill. Needless to say, mothers are not permitting warm-up suits under their robes, so those “angels” are not posing in rapt attention to the “child” in the “manger” below, who have a wind break and lights to warm them up, and probably heating pads and some animals to generate a few BTUs.

It will be a “miracle” if those kids don’t fall off the platform they’re on while they jump around in their “wings” trying to stay warm. Someone at least relented enough to provide them with white “hoodies” to wear with their robes, but long johns, mittens, and snowmobile boots would help a lot.

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