The Holiday Scholastic Mandate

For those of you that haven't figured it out already, I'm a liberal/progressive Democrat. I know, you're shocked. But, I do also get a kick out of Christmas. I like the lights on houses, the smells of spiced candles, and the occasional Christmas song ( especially Springsteen's version of "Santa Clause Is Coming To Town" - it's not officially Christmastime until I hear that ) so when I hear reactionary conservative lambaste every liberal/progressive this time of year with their faux "War on Christmas" meme, it just further proves that they have little to nothing to talk about.

Then, there are people who take this just one step too far. It seems that some conservatives are wanting to force schools into having children sing carols and perform Christmas plays.

The initiative would require schools to provide children the opportunity to listen to or perform Christmas carols, and would subject the schools to litigation if the rule isn't followed.

Schools currently are allowed to offer Christmas music as long as it is used for academic purposes rather than devotional purposes and isn't used to promote a particular religious belief, according to an analysis by the California Legislative Analyst's Office.

And wouldn't you know that a teabagger is behind this.

she [Merry Susan Hyatt] explained that at her previous school district in California (she's a substitute teacher who lived in Riverside County but recently moved north), songs with specific Christmas content were barred from the holiday party. "We were having Christmas without Jesus," she says, which was just silly. She was unaware of any specific law or rule prohibiting them, but "people were just guessing that they shouldn't do it."

That's right, the group that is "anti-big-gov't" want to create more government that will punish schools public schools that don't abide by this preposterous initiative. How ironic.

The whole point of this is so that people like Hyatt and the teabaggers that she aligns herself with can say that there is proof positive that schools are "anti-Christmas" should they oppose the proposed initiative. It's classic Republican trickery that happens quite often on Capital Hill. They try to put in an amendment that would prevent something that already has legislative backing in order to distract from the issue at hand. So, when a Democrat votes against it, conservatives can say "they're anti(insert conservative talking point of the moment)".

More here