Dave Novak snaps a picture as tree is lifted from his yardIt took less time to set up Racine's 25' tall Christmas tree in Monument Square than it usually takes me to set up mine in the living room.
And Racine's had to be cut down and transported from Mount Pleasant.
Crews from Klaus Cranes, Dykstra Brothers and Tree Guys began the process at 8 a.m. By 9:30, the tree was resting in place in Monument Square.
This year's tree was donated by Dave and Theresa Novak of 5115 East Prairie View Drive, who were happy to get it out of their front yard, where it blocked the view from their living room. Dave agreed the tree was "very beautiful," but he's wanted to cut it down since he moved into his home two years ago.Crane gently lowers tree
onto Monument Square
A retired Vietnam veteran, with 20 years' service, who has Army, Marine and POW service flags flying from a tall pole in his yard -- and two of his five children, Douglas and Christopher, serving in the military -- Dave dedicated the tree to servicemen everywhere.
He estimated the age of the tree at about 32 to 36 years. "My house was built in 1968," he said, "and another tree I cut down yesterday had 32 rings."
In any case, it took less than 30 minutes for workmen to hook the tree up to a large crane and lift it from in front of Novak's house onto a flatbed trailer. It quickly followed a police car escort to Monument Square, where it was gently lifted into place without incident. The lights and decorations are scheduled to be hung over the next couple of days.
With an economic crisis rivaling the Great Depression and a minority infant mortality rate worse than the statistics from some Third World countries, Racine has no business tinkering with a Christmas tree.(None of the above should be viewed as an attack on the sincere people who like Yuletide decorations. However, given the poverty in this badnews burg and our nation's ill-advised military involvement in Islamic lands, lavish Holiday celebrations seem ridiculous.)
ReplyDeleteThis sick little town is big on nonsense but does little if anything to help the poor. We need fuel assistance, reduced property taxes and other practical help, not Christmas trees. The privileged classes--who enjoy such follies--should keep those trees out in the big buck 'burbs and not inflict them on the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteAw, c'mon, Scrooge. These folks donate their services. Give 'em a break, or Santa will stick some coal in your stocking.
ReplyDeleteChristmas? Considering the nasty notes my neighbors and I received from a local bank, FOOLTIDE is an evil joke.
ReplyDeleteDear Pete, The poor wish there were a Santa--they could use the coal he'd drop in their stockings to keep warm.
ReplyDeleteThe poor should get a job and quit whining. There are jobs out there get off the entitlements and get out there and do something. And we'll have the holidays as usual. Happy Holidays to all that don't put the blame on others and take responsibility for their own lives.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the poor scammed Wall Street with all those bad loans disguised as good investments. Damn the poor for ruining the economy and the holidays!
ReplyDeleteIt is, in case some of you forgot the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ. Forget about all your troubles and look to the Lord for salvation and not to the all disappointing man.Joseph and Mary didn't ask for a thing when they went into the barn to give birth to the King of Kings. This is the celebration of the birth of the Son of God not a secular holiday. Why don't you morons complain about the poor not having halloween costumes.
ReplyDeleteThis is a nice event for Racine. It's a good reason to file downtown and look around. Children are the reason this is done and memories are made. Thanks to all the crew who volunteer all their time.
ReplyDeleteActually, it is a pagan holiday appropriated by the Church in its efforts to destroy other cultures and force conversion on native populations. All historians, clerical and otherwise, agree that Jesus Christ was not born anytime near Dec. 25. The Church manipulates history to mask its murderous deeds.
ReplyDeleteOrbs - give it a rest. You are dismissed.
ReplyDeleteThe truth cannot rest because the liars never do.
ReplyDeletedear Orbs Corbs, You're absolutely right. Our Christmas is just the old pagan Saturnalia, Yule and Winter Solstice rites disguised as a Christian holy day. (Righteous Rightists may be interested to learn that the Puritans whom they admire as the epitome of Christian virtue had no use for Christmas.)
ReplyDeleteDear 8:14 A.M., Maybe the jobs you tout exist on Mars, but they're not here in Racine. Get real--grow a brain and a heart. Stop blaming the system's victims for their plight.
ReplyDeleteHello again Mr. Angry 11:12 good to see your pathetic remarks.
ReplyDeleteDear 9:55 A.M., Don't dismiss OrbsCorbs. He was just telling the truth about Christmas and its heathen heritage. Whether or not we like the facts, Christmas is a pagan holiday tarted up for Christian consumption. Christian leaders often adopted and adapted non-Christian rites. Down in Mexico, the Aztec and Totonac festivals honoring the mother goddess Tonantzin were transformed into Catholic fiestas dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. (Interestingly, Tonantzin's temple stood on Tepeyac Hill, where the Virgin of Guadalupe perportedly appeared to San Juan Diego in 1531.) Throughout France and Northern Spain, Black Madonna shrines were built on the sites of sanctuaries dedicated to Celtic fertility goddesses. In some cases, where the Romans had brought in Egyptian slaves or ex-prisoners of war, temples of Isis dotted the landscape. After Theodosius the Great made Catholic Christianity the official faith of the Roman Empire, the Isian sanctuaries became churches consecrated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Over in Greece, temples honoring the sun god Helios morphed into churches honoring Saint Elias. Alas, the Christian hierarchy took over pagan deities, sacred sites and festivals all over the ancient world. Unfortunately, our Christmas is only one of literally dozens of pagan holidays which Catholic leaders transformed into nominally-Christian holy days.
ReplyDeleteIgnore all you want but the fact remains,we celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25TH. I don't believe Jesus Christ cares what day you celebrate his birth as long as your heart is in it. ""Righteous Rightists"" only God is admired by me. It is obvious by this blog that non of you are worthy of any respect.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Jesus Christ is great, Christmas ISN'T. Just ask any poor or low-income person whose kids know about and want the toys which middle class and rich parents bestow on their children. Worse yet, Christmas comes in the winter, a season notorious for high utility bills and property tax notices.
ReplyDeleteDear 11:25 A.M., There's no "Mister Angry." Even so, there are plenty of angry men who work unceasingly for the destruction of corporate capitalism. Thank goodness, our group is non-violent and dedicated to using peaceful, legal methods exclusively.
ReplyDeleteAlong with property taxes and steep utility bills, Christmas is infamous for coinciding with layoffs. Many workers wish it would just go away.
ReplyDeleteAlong with property taxes and steep utility bills, Christmas is infamous for coinciding with layoffs. Many workers wish it would just go away.
ReplyDeleteOur commercial version of Christmas goes back to Charles Dickens and his buddies in England and our Eastern States. In the case of our pal Santa Claus, we've got a strange mixture of pagan gods and Saint Nicholas of Myra/Bari. Apparently, the Dutch colonists in New Amsterdam brought Santa with them from The Netherlands. Later on, American poets and commercial artists changed Santa's appearance and made him fatter and jollier than he'd been back in Holland. If you want to research Santa, please get Tony van Renterghem's book, "When Santa Was a Shaman" (Saint Paul, MN:Llewellyn Publications, 1995) or Jeremy Seal's "Nicholas:The Epic Journey From Saint to Santa Claus" (New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2005).
ReplyDeleteRegarding the information on Our Lady of Guadalupe and her December 12 fiesta, I'm afraid that the pagan material is all-too-accurate. Although the Papacy doesn't like them, books exposing the non-Christian roots of the Guadalupe cult are out there. Jacques Lafaye's "Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe" is available in several editions. Although it's harder to obtain via interlibrary loan, Father Stafford Poole's "Our Lady of Guadalupe: The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531-1797" is worth the effort. Assuming you have time for a thick, heavily-documented study of the subject, D.A. Brading's "Mexican Phoenix, Our Lady of Guadalupe" (Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001) is excellent. When it comes to exposing hoaxes connected with the Guadalupe cult and the supposedly miraculous portrait of the Madonna revered in Mexico City, Professor Brading's book leads the pack.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line about Christmas is the fact that Europe's ex-pagans wanted an excuse to continue celebrating the winter solstice. In order to keep the recent converts happy and docile, the Catholic Church went along with their wishes. (Other purportedly Christian holy days derived from winter solstice rites include the Feasts of Saints Lucy and Sylvester. As for the summer solstice, in most of Europe it morphed into the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, which became a pretext for picnics and bonfires galore.)
ReplyDelete11:57 - There ia a Mr. Angry, and you know what maybe there is Mr. Angry 1 and Mr. Angry 2. Most definitely you are one of them.
ReplyDeleteWhy are all you people so negative ? You must all live a miserable existence.I for one love the Christmas Parade. I love going with my kids and grandkids.Look at all the people with smiles on their faces.Everybody enjoying themselves. Old and young come together to share with each other the joy this parade gives.These people aren't rich and some don't have jobs.I have been layed off for over six months.I worked for the same company for over 15 years.I won't be able to buy a lot of gifts for my family but thats ok because were togetger.Instead of bitching why not help out those less fornuate.Since I've been layed off I volunteer as much as I can helping out those less fortunate. I found a lot of new friends.If you people find Racine such a miserable to live LEAVE. We all would be better off without you.Go where all your kind go. Straight to !!!HELL !!! MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THE HAPPY PEOPLE OUT THERE.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete1:21 - well said. There are many miserable people out there and they feed themselves with misery and pity.
ReplyDeleteDear 1:18, Don't you wish there were only two guys whom you call "Mister Angry"! There are plenty of men who hate this filthy system and work for its destruction.
ReplyDeleteDear Upbeat Person (or is it "Person Beaten Down by the system"?), For most of us wage slaves in Rat-Scene, there's nothing to celebrate. We've got poverty, misery, high taxes or rents and a corporate crime family whose big buck babes and bozos don't give a damn about us. If we could leave, many of us would. However, we're tied to a town we hate by jobs, family obligations and reverse mortgages or leases. Enjoy Crass-Mess if you can or may, but don't let the richie-poos brainwash you.
ReplyDeleteBut there are only two filthy Mr. Angry's that post out here - and you both are pathetic.
ReplyDeleteDon't you wish! Actually, there are many of us who agree in advance to go online at certain times. As the economy grows worse, our movement will gain strength. Sooner than you think, you may witness the legal, non-violent demise of corporate capitalism.
ReplyDeleteFor anyone who isn't a member of the elite, Christmas is a time of sheer misery. Sky high heating bills, kids' demands for pricey toys, worry about relatives serving in the armed forces and pressure to act happy (ho-ho-ho hokum) prevail. My Dad--who was one of eleven impoverished children--loathed Christmas and so do most working class folks I've known.
ReplyDeleteThat tree and all the rest of the holiday hoohah should be out at "Whitebread." That folderol is just an insult to those of us who don't know how we'll survive the winter.
ReplyDeleteMr Angry continues with his ridiculous tirade against anything capitalistic. He pretends there are more than one of him, but there is not. He is simply one pathetic little man who proably hates himself as more than the "rich" he proclaims to oppose.
ReplyDeleteAnoymous 2;21 I grew up in a family of 16 we appreciated what we had. We didn't get a lot of gifts for Christmas. My folks didn't have a lot of money but we had each other.My first bike was a hand me down when I was 12. It was appreciated and enjoyed by me and then was passed down again.Instead of looking at all the negative things around you be happy for what you have. There are Countries with starving children that would love to have what we do.Embrace what you have there are a lot of people worse off then us.
ReplyDeleteDear Upbeat Person, The rich want us to think the way you do so we won't expect very much out of life while allowing them to hoard all the goodies. Wake up and get smart --the workers in Europe and Canada don't believe that bunk. Instead of being grateful for secondhand bikes and other junk, they've learned how to organize and elect governments which protect them from poverty. The sooner we emulate them by building a cradle-to-grave social safety net, the better!
ReplyDeleteAs for Crass-Mess, I learned to hate it when my Mom developed a spinal neuroma, my Dad's rich kid brother wouldn't help us with her medical bills and I spent Yuletide in the hospital with double pneumonia. Whatever else it may be, Crass-Mess ISN'T a celebration of Our Lord's birth.
ReplyDeleteBy and large, we're stuck with Christmas because society ladies wanted an excuse for elaborate banquets and balls during the winter. This sick little tradition came over here from England and ought to be returned to its place of origin a.s.a.p.
ReplyDeleteThe economy has nothing to do with a Christmas tree that was donated by a group of local volunteering business owners. You seem ridiculous, not a Christmas tree in a town that could use more good stories like this one. Happy Holidays, Everybody!
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, that tree has a lot to do with the economy. Let's never forget that business owners are capitalists and capitalists are the oppressor class here in AmeriKKK. It is because of capitalists' greed for oil that poor men and women in uniform are shedding their blood in filthy, foreign wars. Poor, working class and--in some cases--a sprinkling of middle class troops are dying so the rich may live high and exploit the rest of us. That silly tree is in the same league with Widow Waxie's fiberglass cow, Ms. Boidcage's modern art and Hellwitch Waxtrash Leap-and-Grab-Hold's fragment of the Berlin Wall. They're all elitist nonsense. (If the middle class tree donor's kids are in the armed forces as stated in the article, I feel very sorry for them. All those youngsters are is cannon fodder who'll be sacrificed so the oligarchs and some middle class imitators of the rich may play with toys, Crass-Mess trees included.)
ReplyDeleteDear 11:44 A.M.,You didn't spell "purportedly" correctly. However, orthography aside, you're right about the pagan origins of the Mexican Guadalupe cult and the December 12 fiesta honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. South of the Border and in some of our barrios, devotees of that Aztec/Totonac goddess disguised as a Madonna still perform pagan rites and even cast spells in her name. Two books available at our library ("The Road to Guadalupe" and "Brujeria: A Study in Mexican-American Folk Magic" can tell you all about it.)
ReplyDeleteYes, I can remember how a Catholic bishop told the congregation at Saint Patrick's that the Virgin of Guadalupe was the Mother of God rather than a deity in her own right. (I believe that the Auxiliary Bishop said:"No es una diosa sino la Madre de Dios.") Despite their respect for the religious leader, some of the folks there went ballistic.
ReplyDeleteAny way you slice them, holidays which occur near the winter solstice and holy figures honored during those festivals tend to be pagan. There's a reason the Pilgrims and the Puritans didn't observe Christmas. They knew that whatever Christmas was, it had very little connection with Our Lord.
ReplyDeleteAnother Yuletide holiday with a heathen heritage is the feast of Saint Lucy (December 13). For centuries, the Reformers tried to stamp it out. Even so, to this day, it's Sweden's annual festival of light during which maidens wear crowns of candles in their hair and serve their parents breakfast in bed. Lurking behind Saint Lucy (whose name means "light") are scads of Nordic and Germanic sun goddesses.
ReplyDeleteregarding holidays, if they fall around the solstices or equinoxes, they're well-nigh guaranteed to possess a pagan origin. Some Wiccan groups will tell you that our term "Yule" is derived from a Norse name for the winter solstice. Even today, in Nordic nations, Christmas/"Yule" is associated with pagan fertility symbols like straw goats. (Since we know what Jesus said about goats, we can be darned sure that they're heathen critters and holdovers from the pagan religions which once prevailed in Northern Europe.)
ReplyDeleteUntil we lift our people out of poverty, there should be a moratorium on folly-days. (If we had a way of enforcing such a statute, the rich would shape up and share their wealth fast. Anyone who's studied the oligarchs and their bourgeois epigones will tell you that they like to show off and throw parties. To get their precious holidays back in the social calendar they'd disgorge some of their loot a.s.a.p.)
ReplyDeleteWe need what every citizen of every Western European social democracy enjoys--a lifelong holiday from economic stress and distress provided by the people's government. Until we get that, our kind of holidays are nothing but evil jokes.
ReplyDelete11/10/2009 2:15 AM
ReplyDeleteI got an idea for you. How about all the poor people take over all the wealth and just support the ones they take the wealth from.
Moron the reason the poor are poor is not because the wealthy are intelligent, it's because the poor are stupid.
11/09/2009 5:05 PM
ReplyDeleteGO THERE. Get the hell out of MY country.
11/09/2009 11:53 AM
ReplyDeleteChristmas is about giving, NOT receiving. I was raised in a ghetto in Chicago. A black ghetto and I am white. We would get together with neighbor kids and build snowmen, forts and play in the snow. We were all poor and had very little. Non of us felt underprivileged. But we all aspired to be wealthy. Now I am. I go back to the old neighborhood and spred the wealth on my own without the big brother saying I have to. When they say I have to give away what I work for I share nothing. It is human nature to want to be free.
4:15 - Great story - there are so many out here that use being poor as an excuse for not being successful.
ReplyDeleteDear 4:07 A.M.,Most of us would leave this awful country if we could. Sad to say, we're stuck here due to family-related responsibilities or our hopeless economic situation. Anyhow, if it were up to me, you could have the whole damnable Benighted Snakes--it's nothing but a curse to its poor citizens and the rest of the disadvantaged people on this planet.
ReplyDelete8:33 - I'll buy you a one way ticket to anywhere in Western Europe if you promise not to come back.
ReplyDeleteDear 4:15 A.M., If you really were poor as a kid but didn't know it, somebody was brainwashing you. Thank the Lord, my Irish Dad taught me how little I had and how evil the system was so I could hate my oppressors and fight them. As for people wanting to be free, it depends on how you define liberty. For my Dad, there were only two types of freedom worth having--lifelong liberation from poverty and freedom from exploitation by the corporate class.
ReplyDeleteDear 8:37 A.M., Many thanks for the kind offer. However, family obligations bind me to this evil land. Also, let's not forget that the Western European social democracies DON'T have our idiotic open immigration policies. they're smart and take care of their citizens instead of forcing them to compete with foreign-born paupers.
ReplyDeleteDear 4:06 A.M., You're partly right--the rich work overtime to make the poor dumb and keep them that way in order to exploit them. Unfortunately, you're wrong when you say that the rich aren't intelligent. Unfortunately, they're sufficiently smart to impose their corrupt system on the rest of us and con us into going along with their program. (A good example of a brainwashed wage slave is the person who said that he/she was grateful to have a secondhand bike as a kid. The elite must have been laughing at that rube and chuckling over how they could make him work for peanuts while they cadged all the caviar.)
ReplyDeleteDear 8:01 A.M., You've been reading too many motivational books. The idea that people can be successful if they'll work hard is sheer hooey. The hardest workers I know are poor people who were born poor and have no realistic expectation of escaping economic misery in this system. Although poverty isn't an excuse for failure, it IS an explanation for lack of success in our sick society.
ReplyDeleteDear 4:07 and 8:01, Mr. Joe Malin, are you there?
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line about Christmas is that it is a commercial holiday in this moneyman's country. Historically speaking, it has little if any connection with Jesus and exists to make the rich even richer than they already are at the expense of the rest of us. For people who worry about their economic survival, Christmas is a gigantic source of pain. (YOU try telling a kid that you can't afford to buy him the "in" toy that his better-off buddies are getting or already have...)
ReplyDeleteAlthough the rich and the comfortable members of the middle class may like Christmas, those of us who weren't invited to the richie-poo money party hope it disappears. When cultures change, holidays can vanish. Back in colonial days, Boston had a festival called "Pope and Devil Day." As a young apprentice silversmith, Paul Revere designed and helped build a float for that holiday. However, when Irish Catholics started pouring into Beantown after Independence, "Pope and Devil Day" swiftly entered oblivion. It didn't take too many clashes between Protestant apprentices and Irish laborers to convince Boston's city fathers to abolish that controversial celebration.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the rich and the comfortable members of the middle class may like Christmas, those of us who weren't invited to the richie-poo money party hope it disappears. When cultures change, holidays can vanish. Back in colonial days, Boston had a festival called "Pope and Devil Day." As a young apprentice silversmith, Paul Revere designed and helped build a float for that holiday. However, when Irish Catholics started pouring into Beantown after Independence, "Pope and Devil Day" swiftly entered oblivion. It didn't take too many clashes between Protestant apprentices and Irish laborers to convince Boston's city fathers to abolish that controversial celebration.
ReplyDeleteLord willing, Christmas will join "Pope and Devil Day" in history's landfill. Its connection with Jesus Christ is tenuous at best and the pain it inflicts on the less-fortunate eclipses any positive features it may possess.
ReplyDeleteIf the tree donor really wants to honor and help our troops, he can protest against the totally-unjustifiable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those unnecessary conflicts (brought to us by the capitalist swine) take the priceless lives of our men and women in uniform for the benefit of the privileged class. Think about it--our soldiers are dying so one wealthy woman may acquire and display fiberglass cattle on her faux prairie, another dollar-sign dim-dame may collect cutsie-poo teapots and a third moolah-mama may show off her fragment of the Berlin Wall. Ending our foreign wars and defunding the class which drags us into such conflicts should trump Yuletide ballyhoo.
ReplyDelete9:37 Actually, our soldiers are dying so you can whine about it.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you send us each a personalized list of what we can and cannot do with our money/time/effort?
Who died and made you king/moral exemplar?
Tell us how you are leading by example, not just by mouthing off.
All we have to do is look at the picture on the front page to see who really wants that crazy tree on the square--the corporate crime family whose members own the big ugly building which blocks our view of the lake. Like most elitists, the Waxies like festivals and use them to show off their wealth as well as keep their victims from seeing how the system oppresses them. (Right before the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette felt the same way. Because she dreaded boredom more than death, she sponsored festivals galore. We all know what her victims did to Marie Antoinette after they wised up and rose up...)
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry's you guys are so sad, pathetic, and miserable. Thank God most people don't have such a negative attitude as you two guys. I really think you both need anti- depressants - your depression is beyond words. If you won't get the medication, just take yourselves out.
ReplyDelete9:53 Some of us like that building, and like the tax revenue it produces and like the jobs for the people who work there.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you'd prefer a "view," but those of us who've lived here for a while remember having that block vacant for some 20 years -- this is much better.
Dear Al, Although I would never presume to send you the list you mentioned, someday a people's government will tell you and other members of the fortunate few what to do. (Study your history and you'll see that this is what victorious revolutionary regimes do to erstwhile oligarchs.)
ReplyDeleteDear 9:58 A.M., No, we're not depressed. Rather, we're realistic warriors against capitalist oppression. Since we know who our enemies are and how their system works, we're able to fight it using all feasible legal and peaceful methods.
ReplyDeleteIf you think we'll take ourselves out, you're crazy. Nope--we're going to terminate corporate capitalism and build socialism in this sad land.
ReplyDelete10:06 Funny, the suggestion that I am a member of the "fortunate few."
ReplyDeleteI work, I live, I get along. Whatever I have came from hard work and frugality. There's nothing magical, and no silver spoon.
"Erstwhile oligarch"? I can barely spell it, but it ain't me. Still, I resent you and others telling the rest of us what we should do, can believe in, ought to spend our (limited) resources on.
Dear Al, That hideous hulk of a building is nothing but a Waxtrash ego monument, a reminder to the peasants that a certain evil clan owns this town. As for the jobs there, most of them could be replaced by government jobs wehich are a heck of a lot more secure than private sector positions for salary serfs. Returning to the aesthetic demerits of the structure, did you ever notice how the roof of the tower slopes like the top of an oldtime privy? The company based in that building ought to change its name to "The John Outdoors"!
ReplyDeleteSomebody should send that suggestion to a gal I'll call "Yellin'" or "The Hellbender." I bet if someone did that, we'd hear the Wax-wailing throughout Rat-Scene. Seriously speaking, oligarchs like big pricey buildings and misuse them to intimidate the rank-and-file. The same applies to lavish holiday celebrations and decorations.
ReplyDelete9:53 - the thing that is funny is the these depressed Mr. Angry's hate downtown so much I don't even know how they would know if the buiding blocks any view. I assume since they hate downtown so much they must never go down there. Mr. Angry's get on that medication. Not only are you depressed you are also halucinating.
ReplyDeleteDear Al, If you're neither an oligarch nor one of their six-figure per annum lackeys, the coming people's government will have zero gripes with you. We're out to smash the elite and its vicious system, not ordinary guys with a few extra bucks. Under the people's regime, individual fortunes will be capped at ten million dollars. Transfer of wealth via gift or inheritance will be strictly regulated. Also, we intend to abolish the generation skipping trust, a favorite Waxtrash device for evading inheritance taxes.
ReplyDeleteSocio-economic issues aside, we don't need a Christmas tree on the square. Did it ever occur to the Yule fools that non-Christian groups could then demand the right to display THEIR holiday symbols there. How would you like a nice Wiccan Winter Solstice Pentacle or a Satanic idol depicting Baphomet or the Goat of Mendes? Believe it or not, stuff like the above HAS turned up in public places elsewhere in the oh-so-diverse and pluralistic U.S.A.
ReplyDelete10:37 So kind of you to let me off the hook. I'm so relieved the "people's regime" finds me sufficiently poor.
ReplyDeleteLet me get this straight: $10,000,000 is OK, $10,000,001 is not? If I ever reach that figure, I'll be sure to let you know...
You do realize, of course, that even with the fool's utopia you wish for, there will be people with "just" $1 million who'll want to stomp on those with $2 million... sure easier than working for it yourself.
Despite the fact that RIFRA is no longer the law of our land, it's darned hard to exclude holiday decorations sponsored by non-mainstream religious groups once the Christmas trees and Nativity scenes invade public space. I know of places which wound up with Hare Krishna images of India's Blue God and his adored divine consort Raddha. Other oddities have included Aztec idols depicting the "Great Teacher" Quetzalcoatl, images of space aliens and Freethought pyramids covered with atheistic slogans.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry once again you don't know what you are speaking of. There have been other groups that have displayed on Monument Square during the holiday season - so get it right you pessimistic sick individual.
ReplyDeleteThat's nothing. In some Florida communities, the Haitian Voodoo practitioners and Cuban Santeria clergy have put THEIR sacred statuary and symbols on display. Out in California, where the Feminists have several "Goddess" cults, assorted idols representing "The Divine Feminine" have turned up in municipal plazas during the holidays.
ReplyDelete11:02 - SO?
ReplyDeleteDear 10:51 A.M., Please don't make me laugh. You know and I know that work has nothing to do with wealth accumulation. All the rich people I know or have researched did (and do) very little work. What they're good at is exploiting the less-fortunate and their labor while sneering all the way to the banks which they own in this vile society. Here in AmeriKKK, the folks who work the hardest have the least while the privileged classes loaf and ridicule them. Someday--sooner than richie-poos think--the poor, the working class and the lower middle class will enjoy the last laugh. Coming to gated communities and estates throughout our land: social justice eminent domain.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, we had an atheists' pyramid on Monument Square, right next to the creche. And, you know, the world didn't end.
ReplyDeletehttp://news.racinepost.com/2007/12/atheists-pryamid-joins-nativity-scene.html
Dear Richie-poos, Please don't worry. When social justice eminent domain becomes law, we won't seize your Christmas trees.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry - you are a pathetic, depressed individual and you live in a miserable dream land. What you predict will "Never" happen. We have you right where we want and you are to lazy to do anything about it. I am going to dimiss both Mr. Angry's. I am done with you on this subject even though some how you manage to spout this drivel on every article. Be gone with you!
ReplyDelete11:17 You don't know what you're talking about. W-O-R-K is the answer; it's not some four-letter curseword.
ReplyDeleteThere was a book a few years ago, "The millionaire next door," which gave some simple rules for getting to that level. The most important: live beneath your means. You'd be surprised how well that turns out.
Dear Al, That's nice motivational ballyhoo. Maybe it works for people who already have some wealth, but it's a sick joke for those of us who have zilch and will never get anything in this system. Wise up--work IS a four-letter word. In most traditional cultures and belief systems, it's seen as a curse. (If you don't believe me, read the third chapter of Genesis.) This crappy country forces too many of us to toil like bipedal beavers in order to survive. No Western European, Canadian, Australian or Kiwi laborers would tolerate that abuse. It's time for America's working class to wise up and rise up against the oligarchs and their evil system. America needs to mature and join the civilized world.
ReplyDeleteAbout the only toilers I know who like our rotten system are folks from Asian groups whose culture failed to teach them that work was and remains a curse. I'm glad to report, though, that their kids have learned the truth about work and aren't going to give The Man anymore time and effort than they must to survive.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, back on Money-Mutt Square, we've got a Crass-Mess tree we didn't need while our seniors go without fuel assistance, property tax reduction and other useful things.
ReplyDeleteDear Al, If I remember that gosh-awful book you recommended accurately, followers of the authors' advice would wind up existing like monks. In two cases where people with some means did build a stash by being stingy and stinting their kids, the youngsters went hog-wild and blew the dough as soon as their parents were gone.
ReplyDeleteDear Al, Here's my Dad's jingle about work: Dead pan/ give The Man/ as little/ as you can,/ as little / as you may, / 'cause that's how/ he feels/ 'bout your pay!
ReplyDeleteRight now I'm watching a sickening military funeral for slaughter slaves who perished so three Wax-witches may play with toys and our town may tinker with a Crass-Mess tree. The fiscal fiends' hobbies and the trashy tree aren't worth the attention of one soldier, much less his life. (Needed: a law requiring the immediate military induction of trust fund twits whenever their class drags us into dirty wars on distant shores. I bet Yellin' and Crack Leap-and-Grab-Hold would tell their Trilateralist pals and CFR cronies to halt the mayhem a.s.a.p. if they knew their quintet of lucre louts would be subjected to boot camp, menial labor and combat.)
ReplyDelete2:09 I'm glad your dad never worked for me.
ReplyDeleteThe workplace is a two-way street: Make yourself indispensable, and the company will pay you to keep doing whatever it is you're doing. If your salary is more than the company earns from your efforts, then they're gonna get rid of you and find someone else.
Give as "little as you can," and you can be sure the company will reciprocate. Give as much as you can, and it will also reciprocate.
It's your choice. Your dad did you no favor with his little ditty.
Dear Al, Nope, my Dad just told me the truth. I've known scads of fellows who've worked their tails off for The Man and still got pink slips. Richie-poo is interested in only one thing--his filthy money. After the people's government nationalizes richie-poo's companies and guarantees all citizens a job paying a living wage, we'll have a decent country.
ReplyDeleteEight centuries of poverty and oppression taught my Dad's people what the rich are and what we must do about them. Although my group wouldn't hang the loot lords and ladies from their damnable trees, other revolutionaries would.
ReplyDeleteWe need property tax relief for low-income seniors, fuel assistance and social programs in our sick city, NOT Christmas trees.
ReplyDeleteDear Al, Incidentally, my Irish Dad also taught me that there was no disgrace in receiving government checks. Since the government we have is run by and for rich criminals, anything we can or may obtain from it is reparations for what the wealthy have done to us.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to that stupid tree, we don't need it. If the solvent suburbanites want to help us, they can donate cash to HALO or give canned goods to the Food Bank. But that tree should have stayed in the suburbs where it belonged.
ReplyDeleteGiven our current recession, holiday hooey on the square is utterly unjustifiable. The city should surrender the tree to Yellin' and have her set it up at "Whitebread" where her fancy flunkeys will adore it.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much the city is blowing on holiday lights this year...
ReplyDelete2:52 - I hope it is a lot. It makes the city look great during the holidays!
ReplyDeleteNo way! As long as one of our citizens is trapped in poverty, there should be NO holiday lights financed by the city. (If Hellwitch, Hurt-Us or Risk would like to pay for this gaudy trash, let them pick up the tab. After all, their crass class likes glitzy garbage.)
ReplyDeleteI hope the city spends, spends, spends this holiday season. I see they have already started to put up the decorations - let the poor enjoy the spectacular site.
ReplyDeleteLet the poor enjoy relief from their misery and practical help. As for pricey holiday decorations, I can tell you that the poor folks I know hate them. For anyone who's enduring sheer economic misery, Yuletide trinkets are an insult and a reminder that the oligarchs who control this town value money and the things it can buy more than people.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry don't you get tired of posting the same f_____g thing on every article - Quit feeling sorry about your poor, lonely ass.
ReplyDeleteOnce again the rich white suburbanites lured here by the Waxtrash will prance and preen. Lord willing, they'll cease to taunt the less-fortunate and start helping them.
ReplyDeleteDear 8:51 A.M., It's too bad that the truth about AmeriKKK bores you. As for Crass-Mess, it could vanish forever and most low-income folks I know wouldn't miss it. We need socialism and life-long protection from poverty, not frills and flummery.
ReplyDeleteSomebody spent dough to stick a dead tree on Monument Square. Our elite and middle class money mavens need to re-arrange their priorities.
ReplyDeleteWhile we're at it, the current economic crisis may be a golden opportunity to eliminate the local zoo. A dying Rust Belt burg should take care of its citizens, not exotic animals. Selling off the critters and turning the zoo into a public park beats being taxed out of our homes to support giraffes.
ReplyDeleteAny way you examine the situation, Racine is caught in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We don't need holiday parades and defunct trees. We need state and federal social programs. If they're smart and want to retain some of their loot following the restructuring of this sad land, the rich and the upper-middle classes will share the wealth.
ReplyDeleteFortunes never grow honestly. As Balzac so frequently told his readers, "behind every great fortune there lurks a great crime." Here in Rat-Scene we have five world-class treasure tyrants, billionaires whose obscene piles ought to have been seized long ago. It will be a good day for their victims when the people's government nationalizes the corporate criminals' stash.
ReplyDeleteMr. Angry's - the same old thing on every one of your posts. No one agrees with you and no one cares about lonely, depressed, poor people like you. The same comments over and over and over.... We don't care - the rich will prevail, you guys are too dumb and lazy to do anything to change this great capitalistic country. Your ranting is not going to change a thing - your only way out of this country is to get the hell out of here. We don't like lazy cry babies. We are sooooo scared about the big date you profess to - what a joke.
ReplyDeleteDear 10:00 A.M., The following statement is not a threat. However, when you and your unkind kind are tried by people's courts and divested of all assets, don't say that no one warned you.
ReplyDeleteYou'd be amazed at how many folks agree with us. As unemployment and foreclosures reach record rates, victims of capitalism will demand and receive justice. For your sake, I hope you haven't exploited low-income people because revolutionary regimes tend to punish defeated private sector predators severely.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you call us "lazy cry babies" reveals your insecurity. Gentlemen who are sure of themselves and their convictions don't resort to abusive language. Deep in your heart you know that capitalism is evil. However, because you profit from it, you try to convince yourself and others that it's good.
ReplyDeleteTo anyone who isn't wealthy, capitalism is a nightmare. I hope America awakens from it a.s.a.p.
ReplyDeleteGetting back to that tree, killing a perfectly good tree because of a silly pagan custom is insane.
ReplyDeleteChopping down a Colorado blue spruce to turn it into a holiday decoration is a senseless waste. We don't need this nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete10:58 - let the nightmare continue!
ReplyDeleteNo, may the nightmare end. Let's work to build a better world!
ReplyDeleteAs for big old trees, let's keep them out in the country where they belong.
ReplyDelete11:51- no let's spend money like crazy this Xmas season and have a wonderful time while helping the economy.
ReplyDeleteLet's lift the less-fortunate out of poverty! When they aren't poor, they'll be able to purchase goods and services. Also, if their needs are taken care of, the disadvantaged folks may decide to spare the system instead of spearing it. (Smart richie-poos know that taxes to fund social welfare programs are really premiums on their social stability insurance policies. Even though giving people something for nothing may irk advocates of the Puritan work ethic, it's the prudent thing to do.)
ReplyDeleteLet them lift themselves out of poverty - I'm spending my money on my family and myself.
ReplyDeleteDear 2:46 P.M., Given your self-absorbed, elitist view of society, I'm sure you will. However, don't expect leniency from the coming people's government. Those who know that most of society's victims CAN'T lift themselves out of poverty won't be kind to privileged people who refused to help them.
ReplyDelete5:48 - people's government - bring it on baby. Enjoy the holiday's, you and the people's government. While you are wallowing in your self pity, I'll be enjoying good food, plenty of drinks, friends and exchanging expensive gifts.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your privileged status while you may. Instead of wallowing in greed, we'll be out there working to build a socialist America for the benefit of all our people.
ReplyDeleteNo threats - ?
ReplyDeleteThere are no threats. We only tell our readers about problems and suggest ways to solve them. We watchmen believe that threats and violence are morally wrong and counterproductive. While we are in favor of peaceful, legal measures to destroy corporate capitalism, we NEVER advocate harm to people, animals, plants and inanimate property.
ReplyDeleteSo please relax--you have nothing to fear from your friends the watchmen. Unfortunately, all of us could have plenty of grief in our lives if this evil little town explodes. Here in The Rodent City, we have a corrupt billionaire oligarchy, a handful of multi-millionaire money-mutts eager to grab every buck in sight, a colony of Cornell creeps lured here by the kleptoplutocrats--and scads of downtrodden paupers who hate their oppressors. As the ordinary citizens' lives worsen under out-of-control capitalism, they may lash out at the people responsible for their pain.
ReplyDeleteYour threats have been reported per the Time Capsule Highlights on 6th Street article.
ReplyDeleteThe statements are NOT threats. We are trying to prevent violence, not cause it.
ReplyDeleteA building inspector who tells the owner that a rundown structure requires repairs in order to prevent a disaster doesn't cause catastrophes. Rather, he helps people avoid tragedies. NEVER HAVE WE THREATENED ANYONE.
ReplyDeleteOK, enough!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe this innocuous story about a community Christmas tree has degenerated to this level of threats and counter-threats.
You people need to get a life, and some perspective.
I'm shutting off all comments to this post. Anyone who wants to complain about it can email me directly: pete.selkowe@gmail.com