I am pleased to host the 22nd Carnival. Below you will find posts that many of MBA's finest bloggers have personally selected from their own blog sites in hopes that exposure on Mike's Nether Land will provide their writings a wider audience than they would otherwise enjoy.
And YOU, dear reader, dear devoted Mike's Nether Land fan, can sample posts from a broad spectrum of ideologies without having to labor over yet another piece of right-wing zealotry and psycho-neurotic "issues" you usually find here.
No. This post won't describe some of the conversation I just had at a little party last night with a house full of all white, all Christian, upper-middle class parents. I won't make a mockery of how many times, within span of a glass of Beaujolais Nouveau I was greeted with "Happy Holidays!" And, "have you finished all of your Holiday Shopping?" Am I travelling for "the Holiday", am I taking time off for "the Holiday." It was as if I had just walked onto the pages of a JC Penny catalog. Every time I asked, "which holiday?" or returned a greeting with Merry Christmas, they looked at me as though I had three heads.
So I have to ask myself, did these people forget, within a single generation, what Christmas is? Have they all been brainwashed at their respective places of employment into wishing their Friends and neighbors well with a bland, meaningless greeting? Perhaps. Do me a favor, hmmm? The next time you see someone, try to avoid using the word "Holidays."
Now for the Carnival!
Michael Swartz reaches to the back of the rack for Ripples from a bailout posted at monoblogue.
The Ridger describes why "the solstice month is all about the sun" in December skies posted on The Greenbelt.
Mark Newgent presents "an essay on what McCartyism was and was not, and its misuse by both the left and the right" in What Was McCarthyism posted at The Main Adversary.
Richard Lee Takes us to school in Everything You Will Ever Need To Know About Business posted at Richard Lee.
Kevin Dayhoff reports on Operation Christmas Tree, where "on Saturday, December 1, 2007, over 300 volunteers gathered at the Carroll County Ag Center to pack 5,000 live decorated Christmas trees for the troops in Iraq," in 20071201 Operation Christmas Tree posted at Kevin Dayhoff - Soundtrack.
Joyce Dowling tells why "volunteers are needed to get more history on the web!" in Dec. 16, history, and the world wide web. I think that while it isn't Beethoven, the piece on McCarthy should count...right? See Creating a Jubilee County: Prince George's Co., MD for more.
Even Attila our Fearless Leader and, of course, the Pillage Idiot, gets one in with "When you think your wife is plotting to kill you, it must be time to go under cover. " Not sure what this has to do with bargain hunting, but I've learned not to put anything past Attila. Looking around for a bargain, perhaps? posted at Pillage Idiot.
Turning to sports, Soccer Dad gives us a play-by-play post mortem on the Ravens latest attempt to play football in At least they beat the spread .
David W. Keelan takes issue with "Howard County Surplus and Comments on quotes in the Baltimore Sun attributed to me" in County Surplus posted at Howard County Maryland Blog.
Matt Johnston gets off the fence and wrestles with the developing dilemma faced by Frederick city and county planners: how much regulation is too much? Read My Worry About Chain Stores In Downtown Frederick and find out.
The Patriot Sharpshooter proves that, conventional wisdom to the contrary, we still DO have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore in: I am not a crook! posted at Common Sense.
And finally, this view on Wreaths Across America "from the top of the foodchain" from Stan over at Blogger1947.
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6 comments:
Thanks for hosting the Carnival, Mike. Merry Christmas.
Oh, yeah, and the bargain hunting line was based on the Sun headline: "Wife shopped around for killer, court papers say."
Mike, thanks for accomodating my very belated submission. When I returned from the day's outdoor activities, I went to bed to recover some body warmth, and slept for a few hours. By the time I'd awakened enough to complete the piece, the deadline had passed.
Stan M.
The next time you see someone, try to avoid using the word "Holidays."
I don't think everyone takes it the way you do. I don't think people should put you off with a "Merry Christmas" either because that works for me, too, but I think the plural insinuates that we're enjoying many days not just one day and being with our friends at parties and the like is a good part of it. I love the diversity of the holiday season, too - in more ways than one.
I think that while it isn't Beethoven, the piece on McCarthy should count...right?
Yes and no. :-) Unfortunately most blog posts aren't as easy to find on the web as most traditional web sites. He should enter the post to a site that is collecting historical information - Wikipedia is a popular one, but even that is not reliable since a volunteer editor can delete your submission. Maybe one of the sites they're linking to would be a good place for it.
Thanks for the link; I'm linking back. Have a Merry Christmas!
OK, maaaaaaaybe your rationalization of the plural form holds some water for the moment. But it breaks down when the singular form is used, doesn't it?
And if, as you say, people are referring to the Twelve Days of Christmas (which I find extremely doubtful), then why is this a relatively recent phenomenon? I certainly don't remember this as being commonplace. Do you?
Diversity? I pointedly referred to the party goers as being more homogenized than a carton of milk.
And you are right that I seem to be one of the few people who notice such things. Why? Not because of any fear that the ACLU is out to destroy religion. No. Mine is merely an observation that we have consciously abandoned our cultural heritage in favor one, plastic, one-size-fits-all, disposable pseudo-culture, and I simply want to know why.
Merry Christmas, Mike.
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