TP'ing The Christmas Tree

It’s Sunday, and as usual I have a few random thoughts to share.

U I heard Hillary Clinton on the radio saying she is an “Agent of Change”, and you know what. I believe her. Look at all of the Clinton staffers that she’s changed into Obama staffers.

U Every now and then you run across something in the paper that just makes you giggle. I shouldn’t, but…. Like this article from The Des Moines Register:

Butts declared incompetent in toilet paper theft case
Marshalltown, Ia. -- A woman charged with stealing toilet paper from the Marshall County courthouse has been declared incompetent to stand trial.Suzanne Butts, 38, was arrested in June after a courthouse employee saw her taking three rolls of toilet paper from a supply closet. The judge said Butts could still face charges if her mental condition improves. Butts could have faced up to two years in prison for the toilet paper theft.

Okay, it could be the obvious humor involving a person named “Butts” and the theft of toilet paper, but what really blows my mind about this case is that it ever became a case at all. The fact that someone could go to jail for two years for stealing three rolls of toilet blows my mind.

U Last Tuesday the house passed Resolution 847, a bill introduced by Steve King, Republican from Iowa. I am extremely proud to be from Iowa, and while I am a proud conservative, I’m not that proud of Mr. King. Resolution 847 passed 372 to 9, with 50 either voting “Present” which is a no vote (No as in “I choose not to vote”), or not there to vote at all. What is Res. 847? “Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith!”

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly recognize the importance of both Christmas and the Christian faith, but I’m not sure this is the kind of thing our legislature needs to be dealing with. To me, this is pandering at its worse, especially given that we have actual important work that congress could be doing. But, given that they are not bothering with that, I guess they need something to do. Here is some of the text of this resolution:

Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population;

Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world, making Christianity the largest religion in the world and the religion of about one-third of the world population;

Whereas Christians and Christianity have contributed greatly to the development of western civilization;

Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;

If you wish the entire text of the Resolution, it can be found here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=hr110-847

Thank God Representative King and his co-sponsors (can you believe there are 60 of them) passed this, otherwise we wouldn’t know that on December 25th we observe Christmas, or that it is celebrated annually.

If I were a Congressman, I would have been one of the “Present” votes. I certainly wouldn’t have voted “Nay”, because there is nothing in the bill that is objectional. And yet nine Representatives did vote “Nay”, and not surprisingly, all were Democrats.

But the one thing I found most amusing, Steve King – the resolutions author – missed the vote.