It's beginning to look a lot like

a late December religious festival of murky pagan∕judeo∕christian origins*.

If your festivities includes Village People-like prancers and flouncers performing a divinely exuberant choreography inspired by Riverdance, A Chorus Line and How She Move, we present once more: The 12 Gays of Christmas.



* Though this may not be the definitive essay about the origins of the celebration of Christmas, it certainly works for me.

How did December 25 become Christmas? We cannot be entirely sure. Elements of the festival that developed from the fourth century until modern times may well derive from pagan traditions. Yet the actual date might really derive more from Judaism—from Jesus’ death at Passover, and from the rabbinic notion that great things might be expected, again and again, at the same time of the year — than from paganism. Then again, in this notion of cycles and the return of God’s redemption, we may perhaps also be touching upon something that the pagan Romans who celebrated Sol Invictus, and many other peoples since, would have understood and claimed for their own too.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the obligatory shriEEEkkk for the christofascists reading this post.

The Onion has nothing to fear.

If this is the competition, The Onion still reigns supreme for the best in parody and satirical writing.

The object depicted is a Nipple Tassel t-shirt that, according to its creator,

"... was designed as a response to my own distaste at seeing mini versions of sexy clothes on young children. Five-year-olds wearing slashed mini skirts and boob tubes, little thumb-sucking Britneys.”

It's a modest design, though I'd imagine those tassels would go all gnarly in the dryer.

Gateway Pundit aims for ... sarcasm? Disapproval, yes that's the dominant note and underneath there's a dissonant and off-key attempt to besmirch all non-conservatives parents as godless, perverted and mmm, godless for even thinking that the above is an wry response to fashion that sexualizes toddlers.

And the comments! Don't look for any humour there. Typical tone-deaf shrieeeking.

The whining and the shrieeeking continues unabated.

At Canadian Cynic we learn that it's the

"Lefties" who are manipulating Sarah Palin into acting like a whiny, petulant, irresponsible spambrain. I had no idea we had that kind of power.

Mudflats of course has a crisp and witty response to that rightwingwacko view.

[Ziegler's] primary assertion is this:

"I strongly believe that no public figure in modern America has ever endured more stress, pressure and unfair scrutiny in a more dignified fashion than she has over the past year."

That’s right. Just this week, a gubernatorial candidate in Idaho said we ought to go out and buy “Palin tags”. You know, the $11 hunting tags that you get when you want to go out and kill a wolf with a rifle. He basically said he was all in support of people going out and hunting Sarah Palin like an animal. Then he said it was just “a joke.” Ha ha.

And then there was the pastor who declared in his sermon entitled “Why I Hate Sarah Palin” that he was actually praying for Sarah Palin to die and go to Hell, saying that then she’d get what she deserved. One of his parishioners then went to a Palin speaking engagement with a loaded rifle slung over his shoulder, and walked through the crowd of people. “Good for you,” said the pastor.

And who could forget all the people who called her a Nazi, and the people who showed up outside her speaking engagements with signs saying she was the Anti-Christ?

Oh wait. Those things happened to Barack Obama. Oops.

Go read the whole hilarious blogpost.

The Shrieeeeek Watch!

I got this idea from JJ, who today directs her readers to Slap Upside the Head.

Slap reports on one of Canada's shriieeeekiest outfits thus:

David Quist, the executive director of the Institute of Marriage and Family Canada lobby group, has said that Ottawa should reject a UN declaration opposing the criminalization of homosexuality.

I have two additions to today's Shrieeeek Watch.

First, from the gang who took over 400 years to take Galileo off their shit-list, lightning speed from the Catlicks, who are only six months en retard on this.

A Roman Catholic group is returning Orders of Canada bestowed on two priests to protest a decision to award the honour to Dr. Henry Morgentaler.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate says it is returning the honours given to Father Anthony Sylla of Edmonton in 1971 and to Father Michael Smith of Toronto in 1979.

How many returned Orders is that now? Even including those from the post-dead?

Second, from The Department of Tenuous Connections That Only Rabid Fetus Fetishists Can Make, LifeShite has this shrieeek:

An attorney who won an award for representing Terri Schiavo’s husband Michael in his efforts to kill his disabled wife is now an advisor to the transition team of incoming president Barack Obama.

Thomas Perrelli, who raised over $500,000 for the pro-abortion presidential candidate and is the managing partner of a Washington law firm, Jenner & Block LLP, is helping advise Obama on putting together a Justice Department team.

Oh no! A lawyer! With former clients! One of whom was married to a vegetable! Advising the most abortion-lovingest president evah!