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OK…
So these days, everybody’s has at least one, if not more, climbing around in their family tree….
and I’m sure God loves them too, but that’s not what this topic is about.During Thanksgiving dinner, everybody at my house started asking each other “What do you want for Christmas?”.
Still trying to find healing for everybody from the bitterness from the political season — I gave’em just one answer…”Just one big happy family with smiles on their faces for about 3 days.”
Three weeks ago, on Sunday morning, the preacher emphatically axed the question…
“Why do you want a Christmas present? It’s not your birthday!”Not EVER having been a BIGCHRISTMAS kinda guy…I’m thinking …. “Good question.”
Two or three days later, the wife tells me that her sister and her partner, who live in San Francisco, are telling everybody their don’t want Christmas presents this year.
I’m thinking… “God works in mysterious ways.”
Then the wife adds….”They want everybody to give the money their would have spent on their Christmas present to charity.”
I’m thinking.. “whatever”… and nodded and went back to watching Wolfpack basketball.That was two weeks ago…
So AFTER the basketball game last night and with two shopping days left… she brings the subject of Christmas presents for the two radical feminists up again.
“Remember what I told you ’bout that… They want us to pick one of three “Charities”.”
“What Three”… I innocently asked…knowing instantly I shoulda kept my eyes closed and my mouth…She answered…
The American Civil Liberties Union
The Southern Environmental Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law CenterBOOM-F#ING-BOOM!!!
At my age….I already know how this is gonna turn out…. and everybody loses…
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NOW… we seen the Complete and Total Commercialization of Christmas in our lifetimes…
Is the next latest, greatest Christmas thing coming out of California gonna be the Politicization of Christmas ???
Since when did Political Advocacy Groups become Charities, in the true, not financial-nonprofit- sense of the word?
How the hell do I find a way out of this family jam?
Keep this clean, guys… it’s Christmas! Whatever that means these days….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Easy peeezy lemon squeezy. tell them you gave (make it past tense) to the toys for tots or the Salvation Army (true charities) and if they don’t like your answer then simply say “so you call them up and tell them you want the money back to give to …”. Or better yet just send them a Christmas card with a note in it that you gave to one of those two “charities”. Then if they don’t like that say “oh well it is a charity that does good work at Christmas time”. Personally this year I’m giving to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. That one would be hard to argue with.
Smarter than the average bear
Radman….She’s NOT the problem….
Thanks… You’ve confirmed my suspicions…
This was NOT an original idea by the two ladies…It’s ORGANIZED !!!
Yogi… keeping it on the “local” level…
you’re on the right track…
I was thinking the “local” soup kitchen…One of the ladies in San Francisco is a manager in a “local soup kitchen” there…
Could make it better but they’re gonna get their heads up their a##es regardless..
just a question of how far and how long…The other problem remains… I’ve GOTT three kids that think just like Radman’s son… and the ladies control some of their purse strings…
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Well their 3 “charities” aren’t at all! Just my opinion. Lots of REAL charities that could use REAL money this Christmas. None of those 3 do ANYTHING to ease the suffering of those less fortunate from my perspective. If you want to go really neutral on them though give to a local no kill pet shelter. Two of our dogs have come from there and they are wonderful. We’ve had many dogs over the years but those two are truly special. My Mrs. reminded me of that when I shared the content of this thread.
Smarter than the average bear
I urge you to donate to the Southern Environmental Law Center…since it’s on your list.
Pamlico-Tar River Foundation, too, while yer at it.Maybe I should have been clearer..
Not MY list….
Now, I do not disagree at all with and in general passively support the work of all three of the listed Political Advocacy Groups.
Nor, do I disagree with the work of most all legitimate Charities.
Neverthless…I’m not what anybody would call a Dependable Donor.My wife and I do fully support specific Ministries, in many ways.
Political Advocacy Groups, while many do good work, ARE NOT Charities.
Charities, while many do good work, ARE NOT Ministries.My problem — and I suspect it’s the same for many others — is with the Politicization of Christmas, in general, and with jammedinacorner, damnedifyoudo-damnedifdon’t, nowayout methods of covert hardball solicitation.
Need to NipThisInTheBud….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!The Southern Environmental Law Center is not a political machination. They fight the evil of politics.
It would be a very Christ(like)masy thing to do.
BTW…I know it wasn’t your list, but whose hands was it put in?
Ummmm, not to be contrary CD but SELC is an advocacy group. While their purpose may be admirable a charity they aren’t. Just sayin’
Smarter than the average bear
My daughter and I discussed this in general. We decided that each family member who wishes to participate donate to their favorite charity. No discussion of politics (ours are radically different but we can actually discuss and not shout). The take away was we all already have plenty of crap and if we can make the world a bit better with a donation so be it. We are not into revenge gifts.
Then the wife adds….”They want everybody to give the money their would have spent on their Christmas present to charity.”
Charity CD, none of those 3 are charities. Advocacy groups yes, non profits “maybe”, charities, nope!
Smarter than the average bear
No sir, Yogi. What SELC is doing for us in the fight against the State, and Martin-Marietta is nothing short of charitable.
Charity is the gifting to those in need, and that’s exactly what they do.
I urge you to not give it to any of those three garbage organizations. Either give to your church and/or pick a charity from http://www.givewell.org to do the most good for the most people. They vet charities and rank them in most efficient use of money for saving lives. Would be a much better use of your money than indirectly funding BLM movement. But, it’s all about your priorities I suppose.
With all due respect, anyone dare argue with you for giving to a charity that makes the most bang for the buck to save the most lives may just be a selfish turd with an agenda.. but I suspect I’m preaching to the choir here.
Check the IRS paperwork. They are non profit but are not a charity. Do they do good things? Sure, but not a legal entity considered a charity. Advocacy Yes, but they do not directly provide gifts to those in need which is the legal definition of a charity. Just because a group does good things on behalf of people does not make them charitable.
Smarter than the average bear
The problem with words is they have different meanings to different people. People for various purposes often reduce words to labels. The problem with labels is that one person uses a label and then intends for everybody else adopt his meaning of the word used as a label. Just doesn’t work that way.
Charity
Charitable Work
Good Works
Helping People
Helping People who need help
Helping People who don’t know they help
Helping People who don’t really want help
Benevolence
Giving
Philanthropy
Advocate
ParakleteDon’t all these mean basically the same thing?
Now the nature of the work I described with these words and the nature of the organizations doing this kind of work by default creates a political dimension both inside the organization and with its stakeholders.
That said… the impending rush to “Politicize Christmas” has little to do with any words above, imho… this is just another way to move money from over here to over there under mostly false pretenses….
<dogwhistle>
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!the impending rush to “Politicize Christmas”
The rush to politicize christmas started with the completely made up war on christmas.
^NP Cuz…
Can you change the title of this Topic to…
“Shall we be Liberal or Conservative with Christmas Presents, or neither?”
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All this would be much more palatable if the Organizers of the Politicization of Christmas MoneyGrab would come out in the open, identify themselves, acknowledge their true intents and purposes, and then establish a unified National Donation Day on December 30th of each year.Simply ask everybody to get online on December 30th and give $5-$10-$20 to somebody, somewhere, for something that in the givers opinion does some good for somebody.
I’m thinking the Organizers might be amazed at the cumulative response and the financial results.
Level the playing field…
Homogenize the extreme rhetoric…Most importantly…. Take Christmas totally out of the Conversation…
Let me, and a lot of other folks, have a nice, quiet, happy, nonpolitical Christmas with our families.
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Bill, I think you know as well as me, the lunatic liberals have achieved the pinnacle of butt hurtedness. That said I’m extremely proud of their progress in that they didn’t burn their cities to the ground after election day. A truly pleasant surprise in my view.
Now, they’ll be in need of a safe space for quite a while.. and I do hope they’ll one day be able to recover. The rest of us will move forward.
This will be a quick 4 years and whomever the Dems put forward, as long as it is someone NEW, will take office in 2020. And we’ll go from there. And I won’t be requesting donations from my family members to Breitbart.com.
(full disclosure: coming from a voter who haplessly wrote in Rand Paul)
Jeez…
One of my daughters left about 30 minutes ago…She heard what I said last night — see OP — from somebody??? not me… and came over to try to “talk” to me about my opinions….
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!Troll…
In the interest of World Peace, at home and abroad, over the last 10 days… I’ve exercised incrementally and very quietly, as best I could, my divine rights and responsibilities as HeadOfTheFamily/OldestRatInTheBarn preemptively.
Going the “Less Is More” plan…
We’ve scheduled the Family Christmas Dinner at 2:00pm Sunday, instead of the traditional 4:00pm Home kickoff. We’re playing an away game this year for the first time in 25yrs, although it’s only a 30 minute road trip. I’ve also closed the Parking Lot for Tailgaters and banned all POP!!!ing — yes, including myself for the event — Gates open at 1:00pm AFTER Church. Free admission with any Church bulletin.
Since it’s an away game, I played one of the Old Man Cards and told everybody, Me and Mama had to be home before dark, ’cause I didn’t like driving at night anymore.
Maximum exposure 3 hours.
My cooler will be full of cold ones when I get home.
Hope that helps!
#NCSU-North Carolina's #1 FOOTBALL school!lol bill, you’ll get through somehow
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