Crazy Christmas Roundup

It's December, and the all-out assault on Christmas is in full swing!

In an effort not to discriminate or offend 'other' religions, Christmas is being banned and swept under the rug in a holiday version of affirmative action: Discrimination to avoid discrimination, and offense to avoid offense.

In the UK, Christmas decorations have been banned by fully 2/3 of all employers, doing away with tinsel and trees. Such festivities are "unprofessional," according to a law firm in Peninsula.

Were Dickins alive today, he could modernize the Christmas Carol by replacing old Ebeneezer with these fools, and at the end NO lesson would be learned.

In Vienna, Austria, St. Nick has been banned in the city's kindergarten.

Is this dhimmitude to the large Muslim population in Europe, or simply "psychology," as municipal officials claim, who argue that Santa is scary to many small kids.

Now, I don't know about you, but two of my kids who are old enough to see Santa at the mall got over that fear at age three.

In Austria, there is a counterpart to St. Nicholas: Krampus. He is a horned, hairy man who gives out coal to the naughty kids, and whips those who will not be good with a switch.

My kids could use a visit from the latter at times...

From Fox News:

For child psychiatrist Max Friedrich, the ban is "total nonsense." He described Nicholas as a "positive figure who encourages and rewards children," in comments Wednesday to the daily Oesterreich.

Officials in several Austrian provinces said they had no plans to banish St. Nick from their kindergartens. In the U.S., some schools celebrate all major religious holidays, using them as a learning experience, while others don't have any observances in order not to offend any group.

Grete Laska, the councilwoman who holds Vienna's youth portfolio, says both Krampus and St. Nick "create fear (and) have no place" in city kindergartens, particularly when parents and schools encourage children not to accept gifts from strangers. The kindergartens can hold Christmas parties- but without St. Nick.

Such arguments don't hold with people like Anna Seiler, with two grandchildren in kindergarten.

"One of them was all sad recently, saying that Santa won't be visiting this year," she said. "I think the parents should get together and complain."

A pediatric nurse, Seiler dismisses arguments that children fear St. Nick. A surgeon dressed as St. Nick "comes every year to the kids on our ward," she said. "They love it."

"I think it's for ethnic and cultural reasons," said Seiler, suggesting it was in deference to Vienna's Muslim population: 400,000 and growing.

And finally, St. Albans, West Virginia has opted to put the baby Jesus in the manger this Christmas after massive public outcry, but without Joseph or Mary.

City officials had erected a purposefully empty manger scene in order to avoid offending other religions, specifically, to uphold the mythical concept oseparationon of church and state.

The display has shepherds, camels, and a star, but no Holy Family. Talk about LITERALLY taking the Christ out of Christmas!

Of course, the city could always contract the University of Texas students to set up a politically correct display:

Click to enlarge.