Apparently we raised about $7,000. Whoopie! Huge success for democracy and freedom of the press right here in B-lo.

Just read Shawn's latest piece and have to agree that atheists (maybe more correctly non-christians) are on a day-to-day basis discriminated in society. A personal example involves my workplace, where we are encouraged to decorate our workspace for the holidays. Recently I had a discussion with the "lunch crowd" about this issue, and was, well not really surprised, but still amazed at the staunchess of held opinions. We were talking about decorations and how everyone has a right to decorate their area how they want it, according to their beliefs. Their was a Jewish woman at the table who started by saying it was somewhat daunting to come into the office and be confronted by row after row of Christmas decorations, and some rather graphic representations of Jesus, Mary and the rest. Most of the table did not agree with her, a few even snorted disdainfully. I came in next that on the same token if I was a Satan worshipper and decided to display upside down crosses and bloody die Jesus stickers they would all soon feel very offended as well. I believe at this point I was told that there was a difference between that kind of belief or something like that. In other words there wasn't a problem with Christmas decor becuase almost all of them were Christian. It's the problem with the majority, maybe even with democracy. The majority wins and their views are respected to the exclusion of other beliefs. To me it was just astonishing that no one could even see the point I was trying to make, even in an academic kind of way, to them it was a no-brainer: Christmas is good, good people like Christmas. Truly a case of atheist (more correctly non-Christian) discrimination.

I wanna go hoam too.

Yo Yo YO!

So da party rocked the house and took the roof off. Amy came and was just as fantabulastic as she always is on the show. She mesmerized an audience of over 200 fellow Bufallonians for an hour with straightforward facts about the state of our media and concomitant/codependent democracy. We sat on the floor, fitting somehow, listening to a succinct monologue of offenses against our right to free speech and an informed press. We ate wonderful mostly vegan cuisine provided by Coop housers Emily and Kevin, and yours trizuly (which was made only slightly less gourmet by the buffalo wing smell permeating the room-apparently the union workers strike if there aint no wings). Amy ate of food from my hand. Probably right now little cells of my substance are slowly being digested before incorporation into her greater whole. Yes, I am now a part of democracy's voice. Hail me faithful subjects as I (through my host specimen Amy) strive to lift veils of obscuring corporate curtains from the eyes of your minds. Yea, Oh, Verily, and Behold. Apparently I no longer need to get high to write rambling nonsense-yay. So I think it went great. Over 200 people at $10-$20 average ticket price equals at least $3000, and that's assuming no one put in at Patriot ($100) level. So maybe we made $5000-that's a year of Democracy Now! I won't be surprised, and am so glad that this, my first real activist effort, seems to be turning out so positively. Maybe I should stop being such a negative old fartmudgeon. Nah, all my friends would miss my cynicism I am sure. Though between Holly and I we are over the top sometimes. One of these days when we're bemoaning our sorry fates someon's gonna take our advice and shoot us, and we'll deserve it. Amy is shorter than I expected-aren't they always? Her face was kind. She ate my cells. Not too many though, just enough for germination. God, I hope she doesn't read this somehow. Do you think others share this fascination with her? I should look. I'll post later the results.

First of all shoutout to P-Diggy for the handy new pop-up feature. Whoopie-doodle-dandy! But really, what I'm here to talk about is the holidays. I've been having many thoughts around this topic lately. They stem from an uncomfortableness that I always feel around this time of year when I see the first decorations go up and hear of the vast array of sales approaching. The thing about holidays is that many have legitamate backgrounds and meanings behind them, but have been transformed and mutilated into shooping sprees and consumer frenzy. Ask a kid what Christman is about and they're gonna say gifts. Grownups will give you the bit about family, holiday cheer, and maybe even mention Jesus, but get them started and you'll end up talking about shopping, sales, and decorations, in other words, what really matters. And this is what I can't stand. Take a holiday, like Christmas, which to me already doesn't mean much given I'm not a Christian, add the layer of American consumerism and I'm ready to barf. It's so fake. The only part I like is getting together with the family and what not, but I hate the feeling that the only reason we do it is tradition. Same with gift giving, fun idea, but do I really like these people, do they like me, or do they feel that they are supposed to recognize something because the calender tells them to. The worst offender in this respect is cards. Boy, oh boy, do cards drive me crazy. Such a meaningless, canned message, throw away after a week thing to send. I don't know you enough to find a cheap gift you'll like nor anything nice that I'm willing to spend the money on, in fact, I can't even think of a few words to say, so I'll just give you a cheesy picture with a poem on it that a guy in a cubicle made $50 thinking up, but really, I do care enough to sign my name with a big cursive LOVE above it. And the best is, depending on the holiday, you'll likely find a shiny bill nesteld in the folds. Just use the table printed below to find out what denomination:
Birthday: $50
Christmas: $20
Thanksgiving/Easter: $10
Valentine's Day - Halloween: $5 or less

Well thank you very much. I don't know, I'll take the money though. Bottom line is there's nothing wrong with holidays but I hate the way American culture has warped them. Give me a pagan fertility fest, or African rain dance any day. Those are things that should be celebrated and revered, not fat men in red suits, or fluffy bunny rabbits. And I wanna have real celebrations like you mean it, not the mandatory dinner with the relatives. Drunken all night dance parties with hallucinogenic drugs: that's worship. Ceremonies involving ritualistic consumption of human flesh (Trisha's Paul had similar thoughts on turkey-day), especially brain tissue to pass knowledge from one generation to the next: that's kindred spriritualism. Halle-fucking-luya!