Racine's holiday season began Saturday night, with an hour-long parade that culminated in the lighting of the city's Christmas tree in Monument Square.Thousands of families and kids lined the streets Downtown, in milder than usual weather, watching more than 50 parade entries and happily waiting for the arrival of Santa, who did not disappoint. There were floats, rescue dogs, reindeer, beauty pageant winners, dancers and kids singing carols. Postal carriers collected kids' letters to Santa -- and promised an answer to each. Here are a few of the pictures we snapped along the route.
Milwaukee's Dancing Grannies
Some new toys from Bombardier in Sturtevant
Postal carriers collected mail for Santa
Southeastern WI Harley Riders opened the parade
The traditional parade finale: Santa Claus himself
Kids of all ages happily greeted Santa
Brad and Dani Weber brought Emma, 17 months, to the lighting
Parade Chair Barb Ehrhart took her grandson on Santa's float
The parade was great. Racine showed off its collective warmth. Hats off to the volunteers that made it happen.
ReplyDeleteIt was a slap in the face to the poor and economically-marginal folks who exist in the REAL Racine. Nevertheless, the elite and the upper-middle class strutted and had a ball showing off their "Lakeside Business District" along with displaying their indifference to the misery of Racine's rank-and-file residents. Needed: a federal law banning celebrations during economic depressions and wars. With a major financial crisis and two unjustifiable foreign conflicts, holiday hoohah is totally out of line.
ReplyDeleteDear Dave, Racine has very little warmth, collective or otherwise. If you don't believe me, try applying for fuel assistance. This badnews burg has everything for the caviar crew and nothing for folks who have to make do. (We all know which corporate crime family wants it that way, don't we? Too bad the poor old ladies in my neighborhood aren't cute little artsy-craftsy teapots. If they were, they'd be snug and warm in a certain Wax-babe's museum-cum-tax shelter.)
ReplyDeleteThe holidays are great if you're rich. However, they're pure pain to anyone who's out of work or minus his retirement savings thanks to the capitalists' slick, sick fun and games. Ask any guy whose kids want the toys better-off youngsters brag about getting for Christmas. Ask any single mom who's trying to feed herself and her children. For those of us who didn't inherit a silver spoon or a golden cornucopia crammed with cash,Yuletide is a season of gilded guilt and grief.
ReplyDeleteGlitzy parades and shindigs during wartime are an obscenity.
ReplyDeleteMy Wife and Grand kids went and had a nice time.
ReplyDeleteAfter we left as soon a we could for we knew and saw the bars quickly fill with drunks as the true business of Downtown got started, for if you do not drink there is very little retail going on.
We read about how KRM will be bring shoppers to Racine, Chicago and Milwaukee have plenty of bars
Sad but true--in downtown Racine, every day is Booze-day.
ReplyDeleteNice to see nobody got shot.
ReplyDeleteChristmas is for the celebration of Christ. No economic woes or wars should stop or suspend that. It's not about Santa Claus or trees or gifts to each other. It's about the gift that God gave us, Jesus Christ. If you view Christmas as a "holistic humanistic holiday" then I guess you would be right in saying the celebration is out of line, but it's not about that. It is in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone getting so up tight about the parade? It's just a PARADE! It didn't cost a cent to watch. You can sit home and worry about not having enough $$ for fuel (which will now NOT be turned off) or gifts (you can make your own). It is just a little bit of 'the usual' which we don't have to give up. Hey I once hand made valentines because I had no $$ to buy them for my sons. You cope, and a little fun is nice to watch. I think the parade was a good thing right now. Show the world no one can change us. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteDear 9:34 A.M., Don't we wish that Christmas were a celebration honoring the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ! Alas, Christmas is just the old pagan winter solstice festival recycled as a nominally-Christian holiday. Emperor Constantine--who didn't become a Christian until he was on his deathbed--selected December 25 as the Savior's natal day because his favorite sun god (Sol Invictus) was said to have been born on that date. In addition, other solar deities such as Helios and Apollo were associated with December 25. Please don't take my word for it. Ask any expert on the history of religions about the origins of Christmas. Or, if you like to read, get Tony van Renterghem's book, "When Santa Was a Shaman" (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995) or Jeremy Seal's study, "Nicholas: The Epic Journey From Saint to Santa" (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005). Then you'll understand why many people who loved Jesus Christ (e.g. the Puritans and the Pilgrims) rejected Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAnother book--Philippe Walter's "Christianity"--goes so far as to say that early Christian leaders unwittingly turned popular Christianity into a semi-pagan faith by including renamed heathen holidays in the Christian calendar.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happened in Mexico after the Spanish Conquest. South of the Border, the padres let the Indians turn their winter solstice rites honoring several Aztec and Totonac mother goddesses into the fiesta of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12). Our library has two books--"The Road to Guadalupe" and "Brujeria"--which can tell you all about it.
ReplyDeleteOther Aztec goddesses whose festivals fell in late January or early February morphed into forms of Our Lady of Candlemas, whom the padres honored on February 2. Of course, the Indians continued to revere their pagan deities under that outwardly-Christian title. (Anyone who doubts this should visit the nominally-Marian shrines in Jalisco State, Mexico.
ReplyDeleteThat's nothing. Lots of Aztec gods sneaked into popular Mexican Catholicism disguised as saints. Mixcoatl, the hunting god, morphed into the Catholic patron of the animal kingdom, Saint Francis. Tlaloc, the rain god, turned into Saint John the Baptist. You can find scads of information about this in Martin Austin Nesvig's "Local Religion in Colonial Mexico" (Albuquerque, N.M.: University of New Mexico Press,2006).
ReplyDeleteWherever the Catholic faith has come into contact with paganism, heathen deities and holidays have been absorbed and nominally Transformed into Christian saints and festivals. Unfortunately, pagan baggage galore came along for the ride. The guy or gal who mentioned shrines down in Jalisco knew what he or she was talking about. A few years ago I visited San Juan de los Lagos, home of a sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Candlemas (Feb.2). Folks were dancing with torches and pouring jars of water on each other. Since there used to be a temple honoring a fire-and-water goddess called Chalchiuhtlicue on the site of the church, I shouldn't have been surprised at the happy crowd's incendiary and aquatic antics.
ReplyDeleteYep, it was fun--but it wasn't Christian.
ReplyDeleteAnon 4:17a - I see that even the poor (as you infer) have 'net access. Come out of your cave and view the sunlight sometime. Call Rep Mason and demand your next handout then demand that the $30 / hr. manufacturing jobs return to teh area.
ReplyDeleteA friend and I went to the Raytown Roadhouse and had a food war special....a delicious filet mignon dinner for $10 and we sat in the window and watched the parade. I saw lots of people I know enjoying themselves inside and outside. I think the 500 block of Sixth Street has emerged as one independent stretch (and it's spilling over to the 600 block now It is not trying to be what it is not. Now downtown especially Sixth Street-- needs some real daytime business - you know like the grocery that could not be and the laundromat that could not be. It needs more storefronts selling what local residents need and want and can afford..... Mostly downtown needs less control and lowered taxes, a chamber of commerce that recognizes all storefronts not just the same old same old and some parking plan for Sixth Street because that is where there is some real life and there is a diffent lact of parking here.
ReplyDeletesorry, something happened to my fingers.
ReplyDeletedefinite lack of parking on Sixth Street.
I also had the tenderloin special at RR and I can tell you that it was superb. The service was good and food was even better. Good luck Pete and Jim. I doubt they will even need luck if the food stays like the meal I had.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember seeing Corey Mason in this parade. There must have been a conflict with his hometown of Madison's Christmas parade or he didn't feel like driving "home" to Racine. I wonder if he's getting paid the travel time that he's supposed to collect if actually lived here in Racine?
ReplyDeleteKatie, that roadhouse observatory bit was a good one. Food war special sounds like a helluva deal as well, Karas is pro war for himself I guess. LoL
ReplyDeleteAs a poor family living downtown we went and had a great time.
Would love a nice grocery type market down here.
Dear 11:51 A.M., When we dump free trade and protect our workers the way Western European nations and Canada do, decent jobs and incomes will return to The Rodent City. Until then, only the oligarchy and its pets from Cornell will thrive here. As for entitlements, although I've never been sufficiently lucky to receive them, I believe they should be there for our downtrodden toilers. As my Irish Dad saw the situation, a government run by and for the rich owed--and still owes--society's victims reparations.
ReplyDeleteDear concrete katie, I'm glad that you enjoyed the parade and a decent meal. However, Racine is a poverty pit anyway you look at it and I'm not so sure that the nice establishment which you patronized will survive very long. Sad to say, even great downtown/Sixth Street businesses possess a high mortality rate. Have fun while that place is there!
ReplyDelete@ Kate
ReplyDeleteYou will see some interesting changes coming to Racine
1) Farmer's Market in West 6th st area CHEEPER then what is offered now.
2) A community operated composting operation is starting as we speak, bring all the cool benefits.
3) Looks like GRASSROOTS can get things done vs a City Government.
Dear 1:02 P.M., I'm afraid that the nice folks with new restaurant will require all the good luck they can get. Even with delicious food and excellent service, they've got to function in a town where most of us either pay exorbitant property taxes or sky-high rents. For workers who receive next to nothing in compensation, fast food joints will beat regular restaurants, including Country-Western places.
ReplyDeleteDear Sassa, I don't know whether to laugh or cry at your suggestion concerning homemade gifts. One thing I DO know from working with oppressed people: in their culture, homemade items are viewed as cheap, sleazy substitutes for decent presents. Although we may yell about the spirit of Christmas and the notion that the thought behind a present should trump its value, poor kids aren't dumb. Only in silly inspirational tales or films do kids ooh and ah over a hand knitted sweater instead of the toy they really wanted. In my Dad's impoverished clan, homemade stuff took a swift trip to the trashcan as soon as the donor was out the door.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived in Racine on Sixth Street for 10 years I am well aware of the two Racines and the selective over taxing. I am also aware that independent thinking makes one a target for the status quo. Still, Sixth Street is awakening because there are independent thinkers who love the city and want Sixth Street to be sustainable. The Raytown Roadhouse is a fine example of a place that fits both Racines and where both Racines can meet. The Hopes Center is too. Yes, I think residents are beginning to become activists and reclaim their city. I love it when I see the Racine urban mix of ethnicities and lifestyles enjoying themselves because this is what vibrant is. I cannot help relating more to the residents than the incredible controlling status quo. I remember Crandall and Arumbula, the architects for the downtown redevelopment plan, repeating to deaf ears I guess that 65% of potential business comes from locals and if locals don't like what is happening, they will not come. I am hopeful we will get a grocery in the central building on the corner as a small grocery with competitive prices is a natural. The insult to Michael Choi and the Chuns was a real low. I see lots of local people now on the 500 block. I am so proud of the few who have made this happen.
ReplyDeleteAmen! However, as long as The House of Wax misrules this sad city,very few constructive things which benefit ordinary citizens will happen. Alas, the Carnauba Courtiers possess an elitist agenda which excludes the locals and their wishes. For the Waxies, Sixth Street is part of an arty-tarty playground designed for the entertainment of their six-figure- income Cornell clowns. To Bugspray Ballyhoo Boosters, downtown exists to keep East Coast corporate talent happy and to impress visiting grandees of greed who attend galas out at "Whitebread."
ReplyDeleteDear Concrete Katie, What we, the residents of Racine, want doesn't matter to the oligarchy. All the oppressor class desires is a pretty city to show off to its CFR and Trilateralist buddies.
ReplyDeleteDon José Julián Martà y Pérez Lives!
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteSeriously speaking, we must mobilize against The House of Wax and its money-mutt minions. For starters, we ought to oust all public officials who reside in the Carnauba criminals' back pockets and replace them with men who are not afraid to take on the Cherokee Red Reprobates. Messy-John-It's-A-Sin, Inc. must learn that it doesn't own Racine. We need leaders who are unbought and unbossed and we need them NOW!
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful event for all economic individuals. For those that say this parade was for the elite, apparently you were not at the parade. All races, religion, ages and economic levels. It was a great source of free entertainment.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, we require federal and state officials who'll promote socio-economic democracy by enacting and enforcing legislation against corporate corruption. And--if necessary for the greatest good of the greatest number---there should be statutes designed to transform our crass capitalist system into a social democratic system. (Our so-called free enterprise system gives the impoverished majority the liberty to flail and fail while granting the rich the license to exploit everything and anyone in their evil path.)
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime (and it IS a MEAN time for most of us), we don't need anymore foolish festivals. As any historian or sociologist will inform you, such fetes exist to affirm the oligarchy's power over the rank-and-file, distract the poor from understanding the causes of their misery and keep the less-fortunate from overthrowing their oppressors. If you don't believe me, get and read Roy Strong's "Art and Power" (Berkeley,CA: University of California Press, 1984) or Linda A. Curcio-Nagy's "The Great Festivals of Colonial Mexico City: Performing Power and Identity" (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2004). In general, egalitarian societies which value their people and prevent extreme disparities in wealth from dividing the populace into haves and have-nots are not obsessed with festivals. By and large, decent societies rarely stage public spectacles. Conversely, inhumane, rigidly-stratified societies ruled by economic oligarchs dote on festivals and misuse them to keep the majority dumb and down. (Just contrast an equitable society--e.g. the Danish social system--with the caste-ridden, oligarchic society found in Elephant Land or Dragon Country, and you'll get the picture pronto. Racine's billionaire corporate crime family, the poverty of Racine's populace and Racine's plethora of festivals are all interconnected. The disaster known as "The Mistake on the Lake" didn't happen by accident.)
ReplyDeleteWe know which privileged people want festivals and why they insist that we observe, fund or participate in them.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to confusing the poor and stultifying them, festivals are frequently misused to render them even more impoverished than they were prior to the celebrations. All over a sad place I'll call "Elephant Land," peasant parents cringe at the birth of daughter because they know that when they marry her off, they'll have to fund a community celebration and feed priests (Brahmins) as well as other visitors from miles around their hometown. Often, these unfortunate folks wind up with debts which cripple them for years or even decades.(Incidentally, this vile tradition is one reason why female infanticide prevails in much of "Elephant Land.") Down in Southern Mexico, Guatemala and other Meso-American locales, the obligation to fund community fiestas is imposed on members of religious organizations known as "cofradias." Often the burden of financing these festivals crushes the families tabbed by the rest to preside over these expensive farces. (I've known folks who've packed up and left villages in Oaxaca, Tehuantepec and Chiapas when somebody informed them that next year's fiesta was their special project. One fiesta sponsorship bill can wipe out savings laboriously accumulated during two or even three decades.) One reason Third and Second World families can't afford the school fees which would enable their children to obtain educations and--we hope--escape poverty--is the way the compulsory participation in community celebrations drains their resources. When a Highland Maya family in Guatemala is nominated to lead and fund a fiesta, you may be sure that its daughters and most of its sons won't be attending school for years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough festivals aren't intrinsically evil, too much emphasis on them and an abundance of them in a community's calendar are warning signs of social injustice and pathology. Using these criteria, I say that Racine is a very SICK city.
ReplyDeleteYou are a sad, sad individual who will find no happiness in anything. I feel sorry for you and once again suggest you get on anti depressants. Since you have the never, never land dreams of the future, I'd just like to know what one thing that pleases you today.
ReplyDeleteDear 8:15 A.M., Even though middle class, working class and poor people attend or participate in festivals, the celebrations are FOR the elite. Alas, fetes exist to keep ordinary people from seeing how they're exploited and doing something about their sad situation. Good societies which don't tolerate extreme disparities in wealth rarely emphasize festivals. On the other hand, societies misruled by hyper-privileged elites and their pampered retainer classes have festivals galore. Get and read Roy Strong's "Art and Power" and you'll learn all-too-well why The Rodent City's calendar features a plethora of festivals.
ReplyDeleteBEST TURNOUT YET!!! There were rows and rows of people lined the whole parade route – all the way from State and Main, around main and 6th, all the way down 6th to city hall! It was great to be on the float with Santa as we went down the street and the kids would just LIGHT UP, jumping, cheering and yelling for Santa. It seriously brought tears to my eyes to see the joy it brought to all these children watching. It’s a very special time…every year it never gets old. The whole point is to bring the community and familes together to have a good time without spending a dime.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to making the poor even worse off than they'd have been minus festivals, these events are sometimes misused by the elite to divide the less-fortunate classes and force them to fight among themselves. Up in the Peruvian Andes and the Bolivian Altiplano, many towns have a nasty custom called "tinka" ("encounter"). What "tinka" entails is compulsory combat between two or more factions in a community whenever fiestas occur. Unfortunately, "tinka" isn't a form of bogus battle--every year hundreds of poor Indian laborers ("cholos") are injured or even killed in these senseless squabbles. From what I've been able to learn, "tinka" goes back to the Inca Empire, whose leaders introduced it as a method of keeping the subjugated Aymara tribe from uniting and kicking out the Inca imperial dynasty. After Pizarro trounced the Incas, he and his Spanish successors retained "tinka" as a means of pitting the Indians against each other. Following Independence, the heirs of the Spanish colonists made sure that "tinka" survived, especially in mining towns where the elite worried (and still worries) about unions and other workers' organizations which could threaten the status quo. (Note to Racine residents: we all know which anti-union corporate crime clan promotes festivals and rivalries among the rank-and-file...)
ReplyDeletePete - excellant photos!
ReplyDeleteIt would appear that many of the nasty posts above were by the same few people. I guess this is what happens when you try to publish an article that mentions religion or tradition in a society full of bigots who want us to throw aside our heritage in the name of “progressive” thought. Whoever said we should not have a parade in the midst of an economic downturn doesn’t realize that free sources of joy like parades are important to keep people’s spirits up in a time when life as we knew it becomes financially out of reach. The last thing we should all do is hide in our beds and wait for things to get better.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the holiday season being a source of angst for those who have to explain to their children why they aren't getting the nice toys their friends are getting; I can relate and it's a horrible feeling for any parent. That's why I believe strongly in the mission of "giving tree" charities that allow people to buy presents for underpriviledged children.
Just my two cents’ worth.
Mr. Angry's - respond to 9:48's question.
ReplyDeleteMy family attended and had a good time!
ReplyDeleteI hope that HALO was helped.
http://www.haloinc.org/page.aspx?page_id=15
Dear 9:48, First of all, there is NO "Mr. Angry." As to thoughts which give me pleasure, I rejoice that the workers in civilized nations such as the Western European social democracies, Canada, Australia and New Zealand enjoy freedom from the misery which America's oligarchy inflicts on our toilers. Then I work for the LEGAL AND PEACEFUL OVERTHROW OF OUR OPPRESSOR CLASS, an activity which brings me gratification galore.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:03 A.M., I'm delighted that you obtained some pleasure from your participation in the parade. Please remember, though, that festivals exist to bamboozle and befuddle the rank-and-file members of our community. (If you doubt me, please read Roy Strong's "Art and Power" or Dr. Curcio-Nagy's "The Great Festivals of Colonial Mexico City." After you've studied the above-mentioned books, you'll never look at festivals with rose-colored glasses again.)
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry - you still did not answer the question, what do you do that you consider enjoyable? Anything fun that includes interacting with other people.
ReplyDeleteYou people are so, so sad. Not only can't you see joy in anything, but you apprently will stop at nothing to make sure that everyone else becomes as miserable as you.
ReplyDeleteIn Mr Angry's case, he is the sadest of them all.
In all of his rants, he has never made a constructive comment, just hate of anyone who has more than he does (or at least more than he claims to). I am sure that after his revolution, he will make sure that he is taken care of before anyone else.
12:54 - Exactly!
ReplyDeleteThere is NO "Mr. Angry." However, our angry men will see that the poor and the oppressed receive practical help and entitlement programs funded by the defeated private sector predators.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry answer 12:53!
ReplyDeleteIf Mr Angry doesn't exist can we use Mr. Grumpy instead?
ReplyDeleteMr "There's no Mr" Angry - you are nothing but a pathetic little man.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry - answer the question - or is there no happiness in your life as we all have suspected.
ReplyDeleteTo 10:18:
ReplyDeleteWe all know which alderman would like to eliminate labor unions completely, like he did in his store. You can see the truth in actions, don't believe his words because they are worthless.
The parade was wonderful. Couldn't have asked for better weather. My girls enjoyed giving their letters for Santa to the mail carriers. It was nice to see so many people out. Thank you to all who worked so hard to put the parade on.
ReplyDeleteThat's great, but don't fall for the richie-poos' propaganda. Enjoy festivals if you must, but keep your eyes open and never put on rose-colored glasses. (Incidentally, kids who are smart enough to write or dictate letters ought to be told the truth about Santa. Because our family was poor, my Dad taught me exactly what Santa was and why the elite wanted youngsters to believe in him: social control. Any old guy who knows if you've been good or bad is a useful bogeyman for keeping kids--especially disadvantaged children--in line.)
ReplyDelete7:14 Please get help immediately. Schizophrenia can sometimes be controlled. Please produce some identification so the guilty can face their accusers. Accusing others of wrongdoing and hiding behind an anonymous title is cowardly.
ReplyDeleteNo, in this corrupt town, anonymous comments are prudent rather than cowardly. (If you want to see cowards, look at the oligarchs hiding behind their money and their bought-and-paid-for stooges in government. Fortunately, we can organize and lawfully vote the rascals out. Then, once we've elected good men, we can enact legislation to rein in the corporate criminals.)
ReplyDeleteHow is a FREE parade a slap in the face to Racine's poor?
ReplyDeleteOh, and those LED lights on the tree are damn ugly.
OK...so now you are casting aside the sixth amendment. Who is the evil tyrant now?
ReplyDeleteIt's an insult to the poor because it enables the rich to laugh at their pain. When people need practical help or financial aid, they don't like to see cash which could have helped them blown on holiday hoohah and other nonsense. Historically, oligarchic societies with rigid class structures and extreme wealth disparities indulge in festivals and even find ways to coerce the poor into participating in them. Conversely, egalitarian societies which care for their members aren't that interested in festivals. (Just compare a decent nation like Denmark with a caste-obsessed place like "Elephant Land" and you'll understand what I'm trying to tell you. In Denmark, daily life is pleasant so the Danes don't need lavish celebrations. By contrast, in poverty-ridden "Elephant Land," festivals honoring gods, saints, local bigshots and movie stars are a rupee a dozen.)
ReplyDeleteIf you want examples from our Western Hemisphere, just compare our prosperous and egalitarian neighbor to the north--Canada--with our impoverished and rigidly-stratified southern neighbor, Mexico. Although festivals exist in Canada, the folks there aren't obsessed with them. On the other hand, below the Rio Grande, every little village hosts fiestas galore. Often, funding the festivals renders the locals even poorer than they were before. However, the force of tradition ("costumbre") is tough to resist, so families who can ill afford to participate in these events wind up wasting the money that could have bought them modern farming equipment or sent their kids to school. (Bucking tradition and community pressure to blow a family's savings on the patron saint's fiesta is tough. In many cases, folks who want to educate their kids instead of buying food and fireworks for a fiesta have no choice but to move.)
ReplyDeleteIf Denmark is so great, why did you leave?
ReplyDeleteanon 7:52 You punch babies and kick puppies. I think we can change your name from Mr. Angry to Baby Puncher or Puppy Kicker. I have decided to ignore the Constitution as you have done. Yes, I realize this is not a courtroom, but if you are going to continue to bash someone and hide behind some ones and zeroes, you ARE a coward.
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone had a great time at the parade. It's good to see everyone set differences aside and have some fun.
Even in relatively nice Oaxacan municipalities, funding the annual cycle of fiestas can be a strain. Anyone who wants to learn about the situation of Mexican peasants and artisans vis a vis festivals should read Mary Jane Gagnier de Mendoza's "Oaxaca Celebration: Family, Food, and Fiestas in Teotitlan" (Santa Fe, NM: Museum of New Mexico Press,2005). Although the festivals may provide some participants and spectators with a modicum of pleasure, they mean expense and labor galore for downtrodden people.
ReplyDeleteWithout the constant drain of financing fiestas, the folks from South of the Border would be far ahead of where they are now. I wouldn't be surprised if the Spanish conquerors encouraged the Indians to spend their modest earnings on fiestas in order to keep them poor, desperate and willing to work for low wages.
ReplyDeleteAnon 752 punches babies? That is so mean! We need to organize and stop this cruelty NOW!!!
ReplyDeleteI can't trust anything that a baby puncher says. No credibility.
ReplyDeleteDear 9:13, If I could become a citizen of Denmark, I'd leave this sad land a.s.a.p. Alas, I've never visited that beautiful country. Even so, I know plenty of folks who've been there or who reside there today.
ReplyDeleteDear 9:25 P.M., Calling folks baby punchers or puppy kickers doesn't solve any problems. Only insecure people indulge in such ungentlemanly conduct.
ReplyDeleteFalse accusations really are not fun, are they?
ReplyDeleteDear 10:54 A.M., Christmas wasn't always part of our religious heritage. Believe it or not, both the Pilgrims and the Puritans loathed Christmas and deemed it a pagan holiday. (In view of the Yuletide debauchery at King James the First's court, it's easy to see how the Pilgrims and their Puritan kin developed a distaste for ho-ho-ho hokum. From what I've read, peers and peeresses of the realm got roaring drunk. At more than one holiday gathering, a noblewoman acting in a play for His Majesty's entertainment threw up on King James!)
ReplyDeleteThe fact that something is religious or traditional doesn't automatically make it good. Over in Elephant Land, burning widows alive is considered a Hindu religious custom and a venerable tradition. Even so, the law rightly bans it. While Christmas isn't as bad as widow-burning (sati/ suttee), it inflicts a lot of misery on the poor. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to celebrate Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMy kids really enjoy Christmas despite being oppressed by the man. Quit smokin rope and loosen up a little. Most of us could do without the repeated diatribes of obscure scribners from N.M. and Berkeley. We get it. It is getting annoying.
ReplyDeleteIf your kids can get any fun out of Christmas, that's great. However, Christmas and other holidays are nothing but trouble for low-income adults.
ReplyDeleteA waitress who was a dear friend of mine once told me that she wished Christmas would disappear forever. Since that good gal had a semi-employed husband and eight kids to support, I had to agree with her that Yuletide was nothing but trouble. Unless you're rich, it belongs in the ditch.
ReplyDeleteWe have to remember that when we bash Christmas, we're NOT in any way showing disrespect to Our Lord Jesus Christ. Christmas originally had nothing to do with the Savior and everything to do with the official calendar of the Roman Empire. Because Emperor Constantine liked his pagan winter solstice celebrations, he made the bishops at the First Council of Nicea list December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. (Although Constantine was a pagan at the time, he also forced the clergymen at the Council of Nicea to give him the title "Universal Bishop of the Church." Some books add that Constantine also commanded them to proclaim him "the New Moses" and "the Second Messiah." Apparently, Constantine thought that one of his pagan imperial titles--"Pontifex Maximus/High Priest"--gave him authority over the Christian faith as well as all the other religions in his realm.)
ReplyDeleteMy advice to readers would be to enjoy Christmas if they can but not to associate it with Our Lord. Before Constantine's little calendar caper, many early Christian congregations observed Jesus' birthday in September, March or early April.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry can't answer the question because he has never been happy a day in his life - we should all dismiss him. He is just ond ole sad, miserable individual who needs medication.
ReplyDeleteI saw Mr Angry kick a dog because the dog's tail was wagging. Mr Angry kicked the dog for two reasons: 1) he didn't want the dog to be happy either and 2) he was jealous that the dog had a tail and Mr Angry didn't so it was unfair.
ReplyDeleteThere is NO "Mister Angry." Also, to the best of my knowledge, there are NO schizophrenics in our group. Using legal, peaceful methods ONLY, we work to replace corrupt capitalism with social and economic democracy.
ReplyDeleteAccusing others of wrongdoing and not providing specifics is slander which I understand is not legal. Denying the 6th amendment rights of the ones you accuse would not be considered legal either.
ReplyDelete9:35 - you are right about Mr. Angry. And Mr. Angry, I never said you were schizophrenic, just that you are a sad, miserable individual who needs anti depressants. I suggest you call your shrink. As I have said before - there has not been one day in which you were happy and you are not pleased about anything.
ReplyDeleteWe use ONLY legal, peaceful means to combat capitalism. The crimes of the capitalist class are already well documented. Anyone who researches the real history of Racine will find more than enough evidence to indict the oligarchy responsible for the misery in this sad town.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry the police and FBI will find you for your threats to the community - get that soap on a rope now before it is too late.
ReplyDeletePlease list these crimes (be specific)otherwise your posts are nothing but propaganda.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry - ask the police - you know your friends. They already have them. you can thank me for that. They take these things very seriously. I don't need to list them, you already did and now the police have them.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who's studied the history of this town knows about the labor exploitation and property tax dodging scams of a certain corporate crime family. Most of the fortunes in Racine have been built the morally-wrong way. Under our type of cut-throat capitalism, wealth rarely grows innocently.
ReplyDeletePlease list the crimes baby puncher.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're not the alderman who hates unions because if you are that official, the workers in your district may not vote for you.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry - just look at most of your posts about your group burning down buildings, attacking the rich, taking over their neighborhoods - those are threats against the community. I have nothing more to say on this. Say hello to your guest from me when they arrive on your door step. It's not just me, they think they are threats against the community also. - I am done with you, you are dismissed.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that you are the anti-union alderman, can you tell me why you hate organized labor? After all, union members usually earn more than non-union toilers. If you own a store, unionized workers with decent paychecks would be able to purchase your merchandise. Strong unions whose members have money to spend could benefit you.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:34 A.M., Who the heck are you to dismiss other people? If you're the anti-union alderman, your working class constituents may dismiss you by voting for another candidate when you run for re-election.
ReplyDeleteIf we'd all agree to disagree in a civilized, polite way, everything in Racine would be much better.
ReplyDeleteWho knows? Maybe we'll be able to work together and accomplish something constructive in this city. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure where the anti-union comments have come from as I have made no mention of unions. But now that you have brought it up, much of our unemployment is directly attributable to unions. They have forced all manufacturing companies out of the city. You guys and gals should be proud of yourself for eliminating the jobs in this city and now you are unhappy because your unemplyment benefits have run out. I have absolutely no compassion for you, you made your bed now sleep in it.
ReplyDeleteI beleieve tha tI know who Mr Angry is... I will identify him by name the next time I see his drivel about the "revolution" in one of these posts. I'll also tell you why he hates the "Waxies"...
ReplyDeleteCould it be becasue they fired him this past year???
Inquiring minds want to know.
4:29 - Do expose his name as this will simplify the police search.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that Mr Angry and his "revolutionary frends" appeared right around early June, 2009. Looking back thru Racine Post posting, there was no Mr Angry before the Racine Post published info about a lawsuit between SCJ and a former employee.
ReplyDeleteMichael it is you isn't it???
4:46 - good additional information to turn over to the police. It's only a matter of time before they will get him and eliminate his threats.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the police have caught up with Mr. Angry because he's been so quiet. Maybe he is not so good of friends with them as he thought.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Mr. Angry is out buying his soap on a rope - he'll need it.
ReplyDeleteOn a happier note, my kids would like to know where the reindeer in the parade came from. Also, if anyone has information on reindeer he'd like to share, the kids would appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI believe they came from Swans Pumpkin Farm on Hwy H in Franksville.
ReplyDeleteThanks for telling me! The kids are glad to know that the reindeer have a nice home. Happy Holidays!
ReplyDeleteBut of course they will be heading to the North Pole within the next month. They have a job to do.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDelete