Christmas is a Tradition

What does Happy Holidays mean? This holiday season is celebrated on December 25th and that is Christmas Day. All the hullabaloo starting from the day after Thanksgiving is pointing to one day, Christmas Day. Why are stores, towns, and schools being so hypocritical about it? It’s more than a Happy Holiday season. It is a time of the year that most, in this country, think of Christmas trees, Christmas Carols, colored lights, Christmas presents and gift giving at the office, family gatherings, Christmas cards, Christmas decorations, celebrating Christ’s birth, Christmas concerts at school, Santa Claus, Rudolph and his eight tiny reindeer, snow and the North Pole.
Stores and towns are removing the tradition of the Holiday Season by removing the word Christmas from advertising and promotions because they are afraid of offending someone or worse, being sued. For two hundred years a store could hang a sign saying Merry Christmas now they are afraid of offending someone. I have a great deal of trouble imagining that. If a Jewish, Agnostic, Atheist, Muslim person or anyone buys a present for a fellow worker, friend, or relative at Christmas, he or she is joining in on one of the traditions of Christmas. A tradition, not a religion is what many of us celebrate at this time of the year, we celebrate a tradition. The tradition of bringing those near and dear to us a little closer under the auspices of a Christian holiday should not offend anyone. Those of us who have wished others, ‘Merry Christmas’ do not necessarily mean it in a religious way, we mean it in a traditional way with all the trappings that come with the holiday.
Holidays like New Years, Forth of July, Halloween, Easter, Thanksgiving etc. all have their traditions too, like parades and fireworks, colored eggs, turkey dinner, and scary costumes. We keep those holidays alive by celebrating and doing what we’ve always done, keeping those important traditions alive! For America to be intimidated into changing and American tradition to appease a few Bah Humbugs is wrong The overwhelming majority of us, even non-Christians want to keep the tradition of calling Christmas, Christmas. We want to see it plastered all over store fronts, in school Christmas songs and the “Merry Christmas” greetings I used to get from a Wal Mart, and Target store clerk. Since when does the minority in this country dictate the behavior of the majority? For the past 200 years Jewish people in this country have wished all others Merry Christmas without requesting a change in the traditions all of us have come to enjoy. Some Atheist’s in this country have come forward to object to Christmas. Why should the tradition of Christmas and all it’s trappings fall in favor of the Atheist religion and their tradition of not celebrating Christmas in the American traditional way?

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This Visit to Egypt
was an eye opener. Back in October my brother, the short one and I spent two weeks in the Middle East seeing the sights and talking and sharing meals with more that six different personal tour guides and Egyptoligists. The experience was enlightening on both the Muslim religious aspect and their political views on both Iraq and Egypt. We were there during Ramadan so they were always thirsty and hungry. We had them in a unfair weakened condition for answering questions.
First of all they all generally agreed that the junior and senior leadership in Egypt was corrupt and holding back progress. The country educates it smarter students. The better you apply yourself academically the further you go in school. You can in fact defer compulsory military service by keeping your grades high but the sour note for two of the guides is when you graduate with various degrees there are few good paying jobs. Very high unemployment. If you want to go into business the nightmare of permits, delays, payoffs can be endless unless you are rich to begin with. Importing the tools like computers, cars, equipment, is heavily taxed and discouraging for business expansion.
Everyone but a small Christian minority is Muslim. Egyptians enjoy religious freedom and no one is forced to practice any religion. The respect given to the senior members of the close knit family relationships keeps members from straying very far, religiously. Everyone lives with family, three and four generations in one building is the norm. This is the fundamental way of life among the Muslims in the Middle East.
Though there is contempt for the government it is mild with only some fringe elements making further freedom demands. Mubarrak and family has run a tight ship for almost thirty years and doesn't look like he's giving up power any time soon.
As for their opinion about the US being in Iraq- -well we were told that when we get to Egypt and people ask us where we are from we should say Canada, definitely not the US. Well I'm here to tell you folks that just ain't so. Egyptians, like people where ever I've traveled, like Americans. So after a bit of trepidation and after telling and inquiring Egyptian that I was American and him giving me a big smile and a glad hand in return, I had no hesitation from then on.
They are very glad that Saddam is gone but they don't want lasting US presence in the Middle East. They really don't think that we should be meddling in Middle Eastern affairs. I don't blame them. They are a very proud people and foreigners are not welcome except as tourists. It's not so much a religious reason as it is more a nationalistic thing . Arab affairs should be left to Arabs as they see it but at the same time they understand the US motivations.
One tour guide offered that he guided American soldiers on R&R recently and they offered oil as the reason America is in Iraq. I gave my new friend additional reasons but he clung to the one he wanted to believe. Oil.

More on Egypt soon.

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Iraq,How is the war going?

Recently the president gave two speech's on how the war is going in Iraq. The first was about how the military situation was improving and the second about how the economy was improving. He gave some interesting supportive statistics believing that was enough to convince Americans that we are on the right path to victory. His latest polls show he scored some points.

Naturally, opposition mumbled something about Bush not having a real plan on how we are going to win the war over there and bring our boys home. Some even said it is un-winable others say let's cut and run but a recent house vote on just that suggestion was defeated by all but three votes.

An interesting issue that has long been put on the side lines by me and other political writers is the one of religion. We are engaged in a ground war by our military against a semi organized foreign insurgency and Iraqi grown fanatics that are loosely connected to each other by the Muslim religion. I will admit that waging a war on a religion is one that is hard to win. We are looked upon as modern day Crusaders invading the holy land of Saladin and Mohammad and that is the propaganda that mullas use for recruiting new fanatics.

Our saving grace is American history. We have never gone to war and remained after without invitation. We don't go to war for glory, riches or spoils. We have never, as a government policy, tortured, maimed or killed prisoners of war. We have always rebuilt the country of our enemy. Name me another country in history like that.

Therefore, what out come do the insurgents, fanatics, terrorists want?

One, they want us completely out of the middle east, our military and civilian presence. We are infidels according to the Koran and not until all the Israelis and all westerners are out of the middle east will they ease up.

Two, they want and Islamic, Iranian style country established now that Saddam is gone. The old secular Bathist government is also out with the removal of Saddam.

Three, they want to wage war on the western infidels from a solidified base of middle eastern muslim countries. They want to oust monarchy's in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and establish religious Muslim run countries.

What do we want?

Reliable uninterrupted flow of oil and that is only possible with peace and security in the region.
The French, Germans and Russians believed it was possible with out war on Saddam. Until 9/11 we believed the same way. The effects of 9/11, the bombing on the Cole, the blowing up of the embassy in Lebanon, and in the Sudan gave us pause to realize that we were all kidding ourselves. The Muslim- fanatic- terrorists of the world wanted unrest and control in the middle east and wanted the westerners out.

We had to look to our own best interests and to stop the terrorists from killing us.

How are we going to win? Establish a lawful secure democracy in Iraq remembering that freedom trumps religion, even fanatical religion.