Merry 'Effin Christmas To You Too, and a Scoop!

Gumbo News Network (Semi-) Exclusive - For some reason, the local newspaper has been really interesting as of late:

Item #1 – AHMADINEJAD: FARSI FOR ‘ANNOYING RECTAL ITCH’
Our buddy Mahmoud (henceforth known as ARI) is at it again. Leave it to him to suck the life out of what is ostensibly a time of reflection, peace and goodwill to all:

I know, he is the leader of a nation that is ostensibly majority Islamic, so Christmas shouldn’t be an issue. But, dude (doud?), can’t you just give it a rest, at least for one day? Yeah, yeah, we are infidel dogs, bootlicks of Satan, blah, blah, blah. And to be truly fair, it isn’t just Islamic demagogues that cynically use religion when it suits their purposes; our own current lame duck (for example) isn’t free of the taint on that score. The “Jesus were alive" comment is especially interesting. Not to lob a theological grenade, but what a secular Muslim (or many so-called Christians) such as ARI really know about the mind of Jesus? Too bad ARI didn’t include “belligerent, fascistic theocracies bent on conversion by sword” in the groups Jesus would oppose. And he didn’t finish that sentence with “And then we would kill him as an infidel.” It also seems obvious to me that when ARI refers to leaders who have turned away from religion, what he really means is “that have turned away from MY religion”. Again, not a sentiment exclusive to Islamic leaders, but annoying enough in this context. And the Christmas day timeslot? ARI, if your intent was to diss Christians by spewing this nonsense on Christmas Day, news for you, bro: the Christmas season has already been corrupted by consumerist, corporate culture, unfortunately. You cannot insult Christmas more than it already has been.

Don’t fret, dear readers! I am still optimistic about this matter! I believe that most folks all around the world would like a little peace and goodwill, no matter which version of God/Yhwh/Allah (ad nauseum) they choose to carry in their hearts, and no matter how hard cynical politicians seek to exploit belief for their own grabs at power.

Item #2 – THE GUMBO NEWS NETWORK HAS A SCOOP
To those of you who laid some eyes on my post of December 24th (link), you already know how I feel about the prevailing pressure to consider accruing/spending to equate with joy/happiness. So it was with some satisfaction that I came upon this little tidbit in the Christmas edition of our local cage liner, written by one of their regular columnists:

Did you see that? “…more spending equals more merriment.”
CAN I GET A WHUT, WHUT!? I was most gratified to see that SOMEONE in the local press was at least thinking about this subject. The article was much longer than that, and was fleshing out the same theme. She took it a little farther than I did, with some good points about how this current economic situation was maybe an indicator that we should all do some soul searching about how much stuff we have, how much stuff we buy, and whether we do all that because as a culture we have lost sight of the things that truly matter. Testimony out there, brothers and sisters!

I was right there with her, but I confess a smidge of jealousy: she gets paid to write about that stuff! Maybe someday, I will, too. For now, though, this feels good.