A California woman has proposed a California ballot initiative that would require the state's public schools to offer Christmas music during the holiday season (to be played in classes or sung in assemblies). She is a substitute schoolteacher and was motivated to start the ballot drive after working at a school that would only allow non-denominational songs at holiday parties. To get the initiative on the ballot she needs about 434,000 valid signatures. She said, "We got 25 signatures in just two nights. It goes really fast." Honey, if you think 25 signatures in two nights is fast...That's like 12.5 signatures a day. At that rate, you just have 34,720 days to go! (Or until Glenn Beck gets a hold of this story and demands all Californians to sign this petition, and if they don't they're communists.)
She claims the ban on denominational Christmas songs is unfair and Christmas music is an "American tradition" and "a significant element of our cultural heritage." She also said, "We were having Christmas without Jesus." Dramatic much? You can have Christmas with Jesus; you just can't push Jesus on other people at a public school.
To address people of other faiths being offended, she said students could opt-out if offended. Yeah, that usually goes over real well -- singling kids out for their beliefs. And if she has her way, kids won't simply be opting out of assemblies. This lady put it in the initiative that schools have to allow Christmas music to be incorporated into the subject matter of an arts and social studies class. ("Alright kids, now let's learn about the Middle East...In Bethlehem, there was a newborn king. And god and sinners reconciled. Joyfully, all the nations did rise. And they joined the triumph of the skies. And an angelic host proclaimed, 'Christ is born in Bethlehem'. Now no one can claim I'm just teaching to the test.")
A further point she made to address the complaint that other faiths would be offended: that she has rarely encountered people that don't celebrate Christmas. She added, "I don't think I've ever had a Jewish child in one of my classes. If so they never said anything." Wha?! What do you expect?! For them to answer the roll call as "Present. And Jewish"? Do you expect them to wear yarmulkes to school? To pull out a dreidel during study session? To bake latkes for show-and-tell? 'Oh they must not be Jewish then.' And that's pretty naive to think that Jewish people are the only ones that would not be in favor of denominational Christmas songs at school. This same lady, and other people like her, would be absolutely offended and raise a huge fuss if children were required to sing a Chanukah or Kwanzaa song in school.
And finally this quote of hers shows why we should NOT have denominational holiday music at school, because of sentiments like this: "These kids, they need it. They need to see that we believe in Jesus, and He is the Prince of Peace. That's why we are the best country on Earth." (Full Story)
Japan has been experiencing an increase in the number of people committing suicide by jumping in front of trains. Last year, nearly 2,000 people committed suicide this way. The overall suicide rate in Japan has grown this year, and the number of suicides could surpass the record of 34,427 deaths in 2003. As a result, Japanese railway operators are installing special blue LED lights above station platforms in the hopes that it will have a soothing effect on those who are thinking of jumping; thus reducing the number of suicides. There is no scientific evidence that blue lights will help deter suicides, but experts say the color blue does have a calming effect on people. "We associate the color with the sky and the sea. It has a calming effect on agitated people, or people obsessed with one particular thing," said a therapist at the Japan Institute of Color Psychology. (Full Story)
There's such a thing as color psychology?! You learn something new every day.
A French government minister for European affairs (Pierre Lellouche) launched an attack against Britain's Conservatives. The British Conservative leader David Cameron has promised to limit British integration in EU policies if he's elected. In response to the Conservative's stance, Pierre Lellouche said their policy on Europe is "pathetic" and that "they have one line and they just repeat one line. It is a very bizarre sense of autism." Oh snap! (Full Story)
Australia is putting asylum seekers on a remote island refugee detention center. These refugees, mostly from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, try to reach Australia on boat and instead they are steered by Australian authorities to Christmas Island. Christmas Island is a small island in the Indian Ocean nearly 1,000 miles from the Australian mainland. Refugees have to wait here until their applications are reviewed. The process usually takes three or four months. Nearly 2,000 refugees have been sent to Christmas Island this year. The island is surrounded by rain forest and steep cliffs, and the detention center is surrounded by 13-foot-high razor wire fences. A supply ship comes to the island every five of six weeks, newspapers are delivered ten days late, and the internet is slow and expensive. The government has banned journalists from touring the center. Those against the use of Christmas Island say the distance of the island from the mainland works in the government's favor because it keeps activists, lawyers, and the media away from these refugees. Advocates for refugees and human rights groups say the government should close down the center and process asylum-seekers on the mainland. They argue that these asylum-seekers are being treated like criminals and the security measures are excessive and inappropriate. Christmas Island has been compared to Guantanamo Bay or a reincarnation of Australia's notorious convict islands.
These asylum seekers are referred to as "boat people" and Australians are wary about the influx of this population. This has resulted in an increase in anti-immigration sentiments in Australia. "The arrival of illegal boats filled with Asians evokes a primordial fear here, one that has been instilled over past decades of anti-Asian immigration policies and is still stoked by conservative politicians." The previous Prime Minister charged asylum-seekers for their stay in government facilities. The current Prime Minister is continuing a tough stance on refugees. (Full Story)
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