Save Asarah B'tevet @ MindSay

Just wanted to make sure you all know.

"But Shiny -- What is Asarah b'Tevet?"

http://shiny.mindsay.com/?entry=348706
http://shiny.mindsay.com/we_will_prevail.mws
http://shiny.mindsay.com/another_battle_in_the_war_on_christmas.mws

I wonder if people will forget this year...

157 people list me as a "friend" on Mindsay. That's a lot of people who read (or pretend to read) my blog posts.

So I decided to do a little experiment regarding who's been reading carefully or not.

In my entry entitled They're stealing our holiday I wrote this:

Asarah b'Tevet is a Jewish holiday which literally means "the tenth day of [the Hebrew calendar month of] Tevet." Because of the juxtaposition of the Hebrew (lunar) calendar against the Gregorian (solar) calendar, this day sometimes falls in December and sometimes in January. This year it will be observed on January 10, 2006.

Hold on -- it gets better...

The people at Target don't care enough even to wish me an "easy fast." (Actually, I prefer a slightly longer greeting, "I wish you an easy and meaningful public fast on this tenth day of the Hebrew month of Tevet, a time of comfort to your community." But "Have an easy fast" would have even been fine. ) For them, it's more important to bow down to atheism and secularism than to recognize *gasp* religion.

So -- that was today. Asarah b'Tevet. A lot of you folks joined the bandwagon and reacted positively to my initial cause. But I wanted to see if my Mindsay brethren and sistren have memory endurance -- that is, would they remember to provide the proper greeting on this solemn day?

As I mentioned, 157 of you count me as a "friend" and probably have read my blog a few times.

And how many of you gave me the appropriate Asarah b'Tevet greeting cited above?

Only 153 of you.

I won't embarrass the four of you who, whether out of ignorance, spite or just plain forgetting didn't offer me the proper greeting. I won't have any excuses. It's simply not acceptable.  I expect far, far, far more from you folks than to accept anything less than 100% participation. We're a community and we're supposed to support each other.

Which is why I'd like each and every one of you to determine who, exactly, didn't issue the proper Asarah b'Tevet greeting. And punish them mercilessly. In fact, besiege their homes! That would be fitting considering Asarah b'Tevet is about a siege around Jerusalem!

And once you're finished with that, besiege Target! I saw NO Asarah b'Tevet decorations up whatsoever, nor did I see any appropriate merchandise. (The only exception being the "Hug Me! Spongebob" which kind of forms a siege around a youngster's shoulders.)

And for you four who didn't wish me the Asarah b'Tevet greeting and think there's still time? Too late. The holiday is from sunrise to sundown. It's over. Finito. You lost your chance until next year.

For those of you wondering -- I fasted for a while. Had a pop-tart before the sun came up, and then fasted until about 3:30ish when I just felt so blah and semi-conscious that I got myself a Starbucks latte. (But it was kind of like fasting because they used skim milk.) Perhaps I wouldn't have had this uneasy, tired feeling if I had full participation from all of you.

Finally, to sum things up -- you know who rocks? perrye.  There's a blogger who knows what deserves the highest priority...

House Resolution 579 passed yesterday.

No, it isn't a bill which helps spread democracy in the Middle East while we fight the War on Terrorism. Or helping to rebuild levees in storm-ravaged New Orleans.

This was, apparently, much more important for Congress to discuss.

The House GOP Leaders pushed for passage of a bill to require protection for Christmas symbols. Because -- you know. War against Christmas is going on.  Far more important than anything else out there.

And it's a serious matter, this Christmas thing. When certain Democratic leaders asked that the House GOP add something in there to protect the symbols of Chaunkah?  They simply said "no."

Because -- I mean, hell! There aint no war on Chanukah, right?

So -- the vote passed overwhelmingly.  22 Democrats voted against the resolution. America and its esteemed leader, Bill O'Reilly, need not worry about this tragic (and completely made up) ban on Christmas.

I know. Many of you are proud that the House passed this -- taking some time out from these trivial issues like a Congressional budget cutting funding for social programs. Or this trivial War on Terror which pales in comparison to the War on Christmas.  But at least one representative had a little fun with the vote, reciting a poem on the House Floor -- effectively capturing the spirit of the reality of this heinous attack on religion in America.

And with that, I give you the words of Congressman John Dingell (D-MI)

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through the House,
no bills were passed `bout which Fox News could grouse.
Tax cuts for the wealthy were passed with great cheer,
so vacations in St. Barts soon should be near.

Katrina kids were all nestled snug in motel beds,
while visions of school and home danced in their heads.
In Iraq, our soldiers need supplies and a plan,
and nuclear weapons are being built in Iran.

Gas prices shot up, consumer confidence fell.
Americans feared we were in a fast track to ..... well.
Wait, we need a distraction, something divisive and wily,
a fabrication straight from the mouth of O'Reilly.

We will pretend Christmas is under attack,
hold a vote to save it, then pat ourselves on the back.
Silent Night, First Noel, Away in the Manger,
Wake up Congress, they're in no danger.

This time of year, we see Christmas everywhere we go,
From churches to homes to schools and, yes, even Costco.
What we have is an attempt to divide and destroy
when this is the season to unite us with joy.

At Christmastime, we're taught to unite.
We don't need a made-up reason to fight.
So on O'Reilly, on Hannity, on Coulter and those right-wing blogs.
You should sit back and relax, have a few egg nogs.

'Tis the holiday season; enjoy it a pinch.
With all our real problems, do we really need another Grinch?
So to my friends and my colleagues, I say with delight,
a Merry Christmas to all, and to Bill O'Reilly, happy holidays.
Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas."

Isn't he great? This Dingell guy?

Oh wait -- he ended up voting for the resolution anyway.

Oh well... we'll simply see how he votes when the Asarah b'Tevet resolution comes up...

There was an interesting op-ed piece in yesterday's Washington Post. I won't reprint it; you can probably find it yourselves.  But the last paragraph of it inspired an idea:

The author mentioned that Target stores were "targeted" because of their role in the War on Christmas -- especially since they've secularized their publicity and their store displays, opting for "Happy Holidays" as a slogan instead of "Merry Christmas."  Allegedly their "Christmas" inventory is being replaced. And this is bad because, well... you know. War on Christmas.

And then she decided to do a search on the Target website to see how little "Christmas" stuff is actually left their inventory -- especially after the secular progressives have butchered the holiday:



Yes. Only 39,169 matches on their website for "Christmas." It probably was a much larger number last year...

But it gave me another idea -- The liberals aren't only at war with Christmas -- they have also targeted another holiday.  How would the Target website fare when it came to another test?



Now, I usually don't get offended by a lot, but I'd be lying if I said that this didn't feel like a slap in the face. These folks are ruining our holidays, our country, and our way of life. if this isn't a mandate to boycott Target, I simply don't know what is.

We're at war. More than ever before. Save Asarah b'Tevet!