House bill protects “Merry Christmas”

House bill protects “Merry Christmas”
By Nancy Badertscher

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 01/31/06

The Georgia House injected itself into the so-called “War on Christmas” today, passing a bill that prevents state and local governments from banning their employees and students from “verbal expressions” celebrating any public or legal holiday.

“Simply put,in the state of Georgia, it’s going to be OK to say Merry Christmas in the public workplace and in our schools,” said Rep. Clay Cox (R-Lilburn), the bill’s sponsor.

The bill passed the House 136 to 25 and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Some Democrats questioned the need for the bill.

“I’m just trying to understand why this is not covered by the federal law that allows freedom of speech,” said Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta).
(snip/...)

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/georgia/entries/stories/0106/house_bill_prot.html

I guess they solved all of Georgia's other problems so they had time to fight the Fake War on Christmas.

Georgia is perfect.

every school child has health care
their is no unemployment
the water & air are clean
the seniors all have dignity and a place to call home
illiteracy is a thing of the past
the colleges and universities have no problems
drug & alcohol addictions are no more
teachers are well paid
the fire & police depts. are fine

:spank:

If they want to waste their time on this kind of meaningless drivel, at least they aren't applying their wingnut energies to more important, far-reaching policy concerns.

expanding the death Penalty

That excites them so much, they are in state of rapture

expand the death penalty to cover those that don't say; "Merry frickin' Christmas", or those that say; "Happy Holidays".

You'd think if there was any group of people that would be against the death penalty, it would be the group whose savior was nailed to a fucking tree!!!

Whoops! Almost forgot. These are "Old Testament Christians".

But that would be unfair to the mentally challenged.

A religiously insane, constitution hating moron who well represents his district.

This will only serve to quietly perpetuate the unfair and fallacious stereotype of the average Georgian being buck-toothed, a product of incest or bestiality(The "Stump Broke Heifer" Principle...), and possessing an IQ of somewhere in the single digits. An untrue stereotype to be sure, but one that will give a lot of people in the rest of the country pause for reflection and reassessment.

If he was my state representative, I know I would be mightly pissed-off at his sense of proportion and priorities. But fear not. My state legislative representative may well be a lot more stupid. He has stated, on the floor of the NJ state legislature, that all we need for sewage treatment is slit trenches. It solidified his position as the biggest running joke in the state capitol.

Yeah, mine is a frothing right-wing repuke too. How did you guess? :eyes:

I'm a resident of Mississippi. I don't perpetuate stereotypes, I just share the truth. However, my U. S. Rep is a bushass kicking democrat who has no fear of gop challengers.

I couldn't wish you a Happy Ramadan (right? boy I suddenly feel dumb that I can't remember that 100%) and if I were Jewish, I couldn't wish you Happy Hannukah because they aren't public or legal holidays...I think it' might be more in the intimidation and restriction of THOSE groups than to "rescue" us poor violated Christians. Sheesh.

If not, then they CAN pass a law restricting your holiday expression.

But they can't make that sort of restriction, because that would violate the first amendment, you say.

In which case, why have a law at all?

Wrong house.

I couldn't give a flying monkeys ass what the fuck anybody says. If you don't have enough money to feed your kids or healthcare to take them to the doctor, then I guess it's not very merry, is it. Jesus these congresscritters are such worthless heaps of dung. Why not use your time to pass a bill that fucking matters?

Some people really are dumb enough to believe that there's a "War against Christmas".

It's known as capitalism.

am waging a "war against christmas". I wish to see the return of the old rituals practiced on the night of the winter solstice. I proclaim the second coming of the Sun of god (The Good Sun) and I wish you all a very joyous and empirical celebration of the solar myth. I want no hero worship or anthropomorphic substitutes for the "real thing", namely, our only beloved Sun, bringer of life, giver of warmth and all the good things of the earth. We should stand in awe of the nuclear fusion that is the essence of "our lord", the radiance of holy spirit, the Solar Wind. I sing the praises of the equinox and the zodiac from whose guidance springs our knowledge of life. I pray to my maker and say to myself that I am good and I am worthy of the life I am. I rejoice in the certainty of my death and the life of the millions of microbes that I will become as I dissolve back into my soil and my planet and my meta-being of non-being.
Fuck christmas and fuck the lies that separate us from the truth of our being on this beautiful planet in this supreme reality. I elevate no false gods above the pantheon of living beings. Amen.

"Look at me, I'm Clay Cox, I'm doing essential work, duh duh duh duh duh duh duh duh..."

Good job having a knee herk reaction to the television you pandering idiot reactionary. I hope you and the other 136 legislators who voted for it get caught in the rain without an umbrella so you all drown when you look up to see what's falling on you. Morons.

When Lester Maddox was in charge. Holy fuck.

instead of "Holidays"? That's religious intolerance and religious oppression. They are systematically taking everyone's right to not believe in a Christian religion. Sick degenerate morons dragging all christians down into the mud.

What they are doing is forcing businesses to "speak" even if its speech they don't want to make. I've given this example elsewhere: imagine a business that adopts a "no political speech" rule that bars its employees from campaigning for a particular candidate or party when communicating with customers (e.g., "Thanks for shopping at Wal-Mart, please vote republican"). I think the company would be on solid ground with such a restriction. ANd I think that a state law telling the company that it has to allow its employees, while on the job and representing the company to customers, engage in political speech. That is essentially what this new law does, only in the context of a specific holiday greetings instead of campaigning.

onenote

to say Happy Yule and Merry Meet. Let's see how those Georgians like that.



:rofl:

:)

Sorry if that offends anyone here, but sheesh, it's gotta be said.

as a proud ex-Christian, who now understands that a religion that disrespects difference of opinions deserves no respect of its own, and that a "truth" that has to pound itself into existence is hardly true at all.

I've decided that the mean, judgmental "Father God" doesn't exist. It's Mother Goddess, for starters!

“I’m just trying to understand why this is not covered by the federal law that allows freedom of speech,” said Rep. Roger Bruce (D-Atlanta).

would require me to parade around town with a shirt that said "Merry FUCKING Christmas!" :D

and drag them all through the streets. It's a perfect metaphor for what they're doing to human and civil rights.

Wasn't a guy named byrd dragged though the streets to his death from kkk members.

Wasn't the KKK Fundy Christians.

First thing that comes to mind seeing that is, "My God, why have you forsaken me."

I'm sure Jesus appreciated being towed around behind an SUV. :sarcasm:

that is one of the strangest pics I've seen lately..., what's in the box , extra nails ?

Other than overturning those pesky incest laws.

I live in Gwennett county were Lilburn is located.Our state schools are rated 49th in the country and this asshat fuck from Liburn is worried about THAT.See what were going through here.:crazy:

when they bother to vote. My Jewish girlfriend is a housewife married to a Catholic guy. They're both from the Boston area originally. (You'd think they'd be liberals.) She was too lazy to actually go out and vote for Bu$h* in 2004. I asked them why support Bush? She said something about 9-11. I think they vote for tax cuts cause the husband has a moderately high income job. I hope that they didn't support this asshat.

And they vote Republican. This is just another reason the South is getting redder.

Besides all the racists who left the Democratic party for the Republican party.

I had no idea how many of them are moving here.

Berkmar High. Believe it or not, I had some really progressive teachers and I thrived there (but I was in a gifted program, and have no idea if there still is one). I think the teachers were so happy to have this little group of students who thirsted for knowledge and actually enjoyed school, that they worked really hard at making it a positive experience for us. I think of that whenever I read about Georgia's ranking in the educational league tables, because I was lucky.

Outside school was a different story entirely. Lilburn was redneck heaven at the time.

When I moved to Lilburn with my parents (1970s), there was more countryside than houses. That didn't last long, but it was nothing like the soulless suburban sprawl it is now. However, the basic mindset of the inhabitants doesn't appear to have changed any over the years if this latest nonsense is anything to go by. I skipped a grade in school, graduated from high school at 16 and left home at 17 because I was suffocating in ignorance and intolerance.

My aunt and uncle still live in Lilburn and they're exactly the kind of people who would vote for Clay Cox - well-off Republican fundies (very active in their church) who don't care what happens to any of society's have-nots as long as they can get their tax breaks, keep gays from getting married and force people to say "Merry Christmas". Their daughter, my cousin, is an anti-abortion campaigner. They all think the sun shines out of George W. Bush's ass. Ah, family. Can't live with 'em, can't kill 'em.

I have to say I don't envy you living there.

Please elaborate for us non-Georgians.

For the reminder other state legislatures can also be full of idiots.

If the Lege did not include a significant number of idiots, it would not be a representative body.

(as close as I can recall, and she was actually quoting somebody else at the time)

Very nicely understated there, by Dem Bruce.

Has ANYONE, ANYWHERE actually TRIED to BAN their employees from any reasonable greeting they want to use? No, they have only encouraged people to use the most INCLUSIVE language they can.

This is superfranticunproductivenothinglegislation, as the Capitol Steps sang it.

The first amendment covers the regulation of speech by the government, not by private entities. You don't have a right to say whatever you want when you're on the job. If a company wants to give you a script to read from when you communicate with customers, that's their right.

For example, if a company wanted to bar its employees telling every customer "vote republican", it could. The GA law is the equivalent of a law that would try to prevent companies from restricting such speech. IMO, although I haven't researched it, the law impinges on the First Amendment right of the company.

onenote

International workers day!

Cubicles are designed to fragment the workforce and limit interactions and communications.

one way or the other about holiday greetings. I would say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays interchangeably. No more. Never again will Merry Christmas pass my lips. I'm just stubborn that way.

I'm so glad to know that this IMPORTANT issue has been dealt with! Now people all over Georgia will be able to sleep at night without worrying about whether or not they can say "Merry Christmas."

That just leaves trivial things like health insurance and prescription medicine to deal with.

Good job, Georgia!

(End sarcasm)

issue, our civil rights are being sucked down the toilet.

Doesn't this take your mind off Bush spying and the patriot act on the table for congress again. I bet it does most of America.

making it a legal for states to pass laws making it a crime to harbor boogeymen or enable-boogey-related activities

who do not use their official "Merry Christmas" holiday slogan?

I haven't researched it, but it seems to me that if a store tells a employee to say Merry Christmas and the employee objects on speech/religion grounds, then either:

1) the store has the right to fire the employee already because the store is not a "state" actor and the employees first amendment rights only relate to state action, not private action by the store

or

2) the employee has a right to decline under federal law preventing a business that transacts interstate commerce from violating someone's constitutional rights.

If its the former, the new law doesn't change anything. If its the latter, the federal law takes primacy over the state law.

The law, of course, isn't really aimed at the situation posed, its aimed at the situation where, allegedly, a business seeks to force an employee NOT to say Merry Christmas. The new law would appear to trump the store's right to dictate what its employees say. However, it might raise an interesting question as to whether the store's First Amendment rights are being infringed by the law dictating what the "store", through its employees, states. For example, what if the store had a policy against employees engaging in political speech ("Thanks for shopping at Wal-Mart, please vote republican") and a state passed a law saying that employees were free to electioneer while working. It would be an interesting case.

onenote

has any state or local agency in Georgia (or anywhere else in the U.S.) tried to ban employees and students from verbal expressions celebrating public or legal holidays?

I don't know of any incidents and I'm just wonderingif this is really a made up fight against strawmen or if there may have been some incident somewhere that brought all of this on.

When I worked in retail many years ago, we were encouraged to try to use nondenominational holiday wishes because we had customers of widely varying backgrounds, but there was no "ban" (that is, we weren't forbidden to say "Merry Christmas" but rather were encouraged to use some cultural sensitivity, and to not wish "Merry Christmas" to someone who was obviously NOT a Christian).

begun by O'Liely and Albino Wolfman Gibson.

...could be working on, like making to so that our stupid new, anti-poor, anti-elderly, "voter protection" bill, something that actually helps people vote, instead of taking away the vote from mostly Democratic voters.

But then again, Diebold already has that covered.

religion

Those that don't believe or practice the approved religion will be dealt with harshly.

It's like those bills that say, "Today we're honoring John Smith's 50th birthday. All in favor?"

Let's just pass this without debate, is what I say. It's not worth the time.

when they should be spending their time solving the terrible problems like Georgia being ranked 49th nationally in education. I told them that free speech is covered by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and that I say Happy Holidays to people I know who are Jewish or Muslim (and I do have friends who are Jewish and Muslim) and that it's this sort of legislation that embarrasses me for our state.

edit: Cox's phone # 404-656-0188

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/house/bios/Cox,%20Clay/cox,%20clay.htm

and the asshat himself (looks sort of like Ralph Reed):
http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/house/jpegs/Cox,Clay.jpg

And he's just as invaluable to his country as the other lil' fella. What a powerhouse.

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/house/jpegs/Cox,Clay.jpg

Separated at birth?

what a complete waste of time.

Rep. Tom Bordeaux (D-Savannah) said he could see the effects of the national debate over “happy holidays” or “Merry Christmas” in the recent holiday season. “People would say to me Merry Christmas, not with the joy of Christ in their heart, not with the joy of light come into a dark world, but as a weapon, as an ax, a banging on the door - a ‘here I’ll show you’,” Bordeaux said. and THIS is the real problem with this crap. its about FORCING religion on people.

...in terms of paperwork, legal costs etc. etc. etc.

I can think of better things to do with the money.

with no problems to solve and all the time in the world to finetune how people greet each other.

The Republicans just gained control of state house so they are flex some muscles - this one is innocuous or even helpful. Why should people be prevented from saying Merry Christmas if they want to? Now if they make it mandatory I'll be protesting.

I do expect many "bible belt" states and much of the midwest to bring copycat bills when they get back in session.

....has nothing REALLY important to spend the taxpayers money on. But hell, in TEXAS the GOVERNOR would call a SPECIAL SESSION for something as important as greasy thoughts from Bill O'Reilly!!!

in great shape in Georgia, 'cause they don't seem to have much to do there.

Which ones? I mean, this doesn't pass the smell test.

I don't live in Georgia (thank all the GODS!) but in various retail stores during the holidays I've been greeted with "Merry Christmas," "Happy Holidays," and simply "Have a great holiday!" Are the latter two now illegal in Georgia?

I know some companies do ban Christmas decorations in the workplace, which is their perfect right. My own company bans gift-giving between employees and managers (although this often is ignored). But I've never, EVER, heard anyone, in any company, tell their employees not to say "Merry Christmas"! (Or Happy Hannukah, or Happy Samhain for that matter.) Is this just a wierd thing in Georgia?

It's called freedom of speech. I could care less what people call it; it'll always be Christmas to me; it may be Holidays to the guy sitting next to me, or it may be Kwanzaa to my fellow co-worker. Regardless, people can called it what they want! We don't need a stupid law to tell us that.

I see these clowns downtown on their way to and from the Capital and I think "Who the fuck elected these assholes?" Get me out!

But there's Atlanta, and then GEORGIA, right? Whenever I visit there, I'm struck as to how scary it gets once you leave the Perimeter!
:scared: :scared: :scared:

Oh and by the way, why is our Countrys priorities on the stupid words Merry Christmas, when we have troops dying every damn day in Iraq, innocent civivilians as well, and a possible War with Iran soon. Where the heck is our country's priorities here? Geez!

"Merry Jesus is born for no apparent reason day"

or "Merry a bastard is born in Bethlehem day"

and my employer couldn't do shit about it.

Please.. someone please pinch me.. tell me I've been having a nightmare for the past 5 years, and that our country isn't REALLY becoming Afghanistan. Pleeeze??

It's like being led by Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae.

I hadn't realized that people were being arrested, fired, etc. for saying Merry Christmas :wow: I guess this bill was really needed then. :sarcasm:

on debating this garbage.

with the medicare/medicaid dual enrollees problem? Initially, I followed the states announcing that they would do so but have lost track. If not - I would suggest some letters to the editor about the pandering of politicians to propose (and vote on) a bill to make something that is already protected by the Constitution into law (eg symbolic pandering) rather than acting to provide relief on behalf of those whose lives are at risk due to the medicare/medicaid Plan D problems - that the latter, somehow, would be more likely to be supported by Christ and ought to be supported by his followers.

Indiana hasn't stepped up to the plate either - just pretending a crisis isn't occurring. The inaction, especially after the feds have said that they would refund states costs accrued for stepping in, is unexcusable.

If conservatives spent one-fifth the time they spend on issues like this actually improving the quality of life and standard of living, we'd live in a utopia by now.

about "Happy Martin Luther King Day". Can I sue any store in GA that doesn't have a "Happy Martin Luther King Day" Banner??

on edit, the bill does say any public or legal holiday.

passing a bill that prevents state and local governments from banning their employees and students from “verbal expressions” celebrating any public or legal holiday

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Geeeeeeez - They still don't know that the whole "war on Christmas" was a diversion? Boy we are in trouble.

Now I see that it is Georgia. If I were a Georgian, I'd be pissed. What a frickin' waste of time. And I'm a Christian.

screw christmas what about protecting our civil liberties...?

:eyes:

:blush: