Thursday, December 08, 2005

The kid is alright

QUESTION: What can a junior government and history major at Millersville University figure out that still baffles Bill O'Reilly, Rev. Jerry Falwell, and Sean Hannity?

ANSWER: That there is no ACLU war on Christmas.

ACLU gets a bad rap during holidays

(The Snapper has to be one of the best names for a college newspaper. I don't get what it means, but it sounds cool.)

Then there's John Gibson. As much as I want to read his book Christmas under Siege, he's not getting my $25. Maybe I should send it to the ACLU and then send John a card that says, "Happy Holidays! I just sent the ACLU a donation in your name!"

So, those of us who won't shell out the coin for the book will have to rely on media reports about it. And Peter Hannaford obliged in the November 29 Washington Times. Now, check this out:
Mr. Gibson cites several examples, such as the Plano, Texas, school district that banned green and red paper plates from holiday parties; the school district in Kansas which fired its veteran Santa Claus because he told students that the we celebrate Christmas Day as the day Jesus was born; and the district in Covington, Ga., which stopped referring to the Christmas break on its printed calendar.


Freeze it! Note that in this quote and in the paragraphs around it in the op-ed there is no connection made between the ACLU and these situations. Essentially, their claim is that the ACLU is Kaiser Soze, not seen but felt. (If you didn't get that last reference, go see The Usual Suspects. Now.)

Roll tape...

The intimidation by the ACLU so rattles school administrators, Mr. Gibson says, that in one school district, officials banned the playing of purely orchestral versions of Christmas carols. In another, when children brought small packets of gifts to give to one another, the packets were confiscated because one student brought a packet that included candy canes described as being curved to represent the "J" in "Jesus." This may have pleased the ACLU, but it abridged the student's right to free expression. This student-to-student communication was constitutional.


Freeze it! Of course, the ACLU knows this. We know this because we defended students in Mass a few years ago who were stopped from handing out candy canes with a religious message.

Kinda blows a hole in the ol' theory, ay, John? Happy holidays!

How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The Snapper has to be one of the best names for a college newspaper. I don't get what it means, but it sounds cool."

In the good 'ole days at MU it was a no-no for male and female to speak to one another in public. If a guy wanted to ask a girl out he'd snp at her and her "yes" reply was to snap back. The "Snapper" was named after this tradition of communication.

Now you know.

4:23 PM  
Blogger ACLU of Pennsylvania said...

Whoa! Very interesting. This would go under the "learn something new everyday" file.

Andy

4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

snap, snap, snap...

5:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very subversive. I like it.

Was there a "no" response? Did women every snap the first snap?

And, what if you were listening to some good jazz in a co-ed environment and couldn't help but snap along? One could get a lot of dates that way.

Obviously, I'm fascinated by this practice.

1:38 PM  
Blogger MattyMatt said...

I can only assume that the no-mixed-gender-communication rule was overturned by some precurser to the ACLU. It all comes full circle!

4:21 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't know if it would have been lady-like for a woman to snap first. She would probably have been booted out of school for her sexually agressive behavior.
Millersville, just last month, added the morning after pill to their health care center offerings.
We've come a long way baby.

10:34 AM  

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