Atheist Cat says Christmas is NOT the only "Reason for the Season"

Everyone knows I'm an atheist, but Christmas has become a national, secular holiday that is enjoyed with family and friends by many non-Christians, and as most of the trappings and customs are pagan anyway, I feel I "own" this celebration as much as any Christian. They don't have exclusive rights, even thought they tried to steal them hundreds of years ago and are still so insecure they have to shove their desperate "reason for the season" propaganda in everyone else's faces. They pitch a fit when people say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," because it reminds them that there are people who don't agree with them, even if the greeters are fellow Christians who are secure enough to acknowledge others and want to share cheerful sentiments while recognizing the diversity of our country. If Dec. 25th is your day to celebrate the birth of Jesus, that's fine with me. I have no problem with someone wishing me "Merry Christmas," and I usually say it myself out of habit, just like saying "dammit" when I'm pissed, even though I don't believe in anything that could carry out the damnation.

"Hispanicity" - Perceptions of Race in Immigration Politics (from comment thread for Politics Daily Facebook cartoon link)

Arizona-Mexico Border, 2020

I couldn't help myself, I clicked "view all comments." I should know better, but it's a compulsion whenever a link scrawls down my Facebook newsfeed that addresses what I know will be a very controversial and/or emotionally charged issue. (Note to readers who may be out there, I use "and/or" an awful lot. I also start off sentences with "And...") And this was on one of my most yakked about topics, that of Mexicans and immigration opponents.

Birth of a notion - My experiment to share my posts from other comment threads.

I have been neglecting this blog for awhile, as Facebook links and discussions have monopolized my time, as well as less frequent visits to the Twitterverse. I've found enough people to argue with and educate on FB and Huffington Post threads, that it's actually been quite time-consuming, but I have an idea. I've been posting rather long, detailed comments to Facebook threads, mostly on the topic of immigration, but also a couple others, and I'm going to try posting a few of these here, along with some replies and comments from people I'm directly responding to or referencing, to provide context. I had done something similar in the past, but as wall posts, especially to share some threads from Huff Po sites. But then they'd get lost down the wall after a few days and I hope this way, I can keep my wit and wisdom more accessible. At least to me. And maybe some of you all will even want to share it around, because so much of the info I discuss, specifically on immigration issue, needs more exposure to refute common myths and misinformation. So, I know some of the links are bound to be repeated, but it still seems like too many people aren't getting the message and are spreading the ignorance around. If anyone is out there, let me know what you think. And for anyone wondering about my husband (hospitalization discussed in older posts), he's doing pretty well and back to work at the farm. But it's an unpredictable condition, so we're keeping our fingers crossed.

My Response Comment on HuffPo Article: "Securing Our Future Through Our Children's Health" by Sec. Tom Vilsack

Will Sec. Vilsack, the USDA, and the First Lady protest hard against the plan to eliminate free/reduced-priced school breakfast program for low-income students by our new VA Gov. Bob McDonnell? Oh, and he also plans to freeze enrollment for the FAMIS program, which gives limited coverage to kids and pregnant women in low-income families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid. That means WORKING parents GROSSING more than $2500 but less than $3675/month for a family of 4. But hey, we only rank a low "39th on taxes as a percentage of personal income" despite ranking "5th in average per capita income," so the well-off needn't worry about supporting pesky, undeserving freeloaders! (even if they are working their asses off full-time for peanuts.) So what if kids are too hungry or sickly to do well enough in school to raise above their station, always need an underclass of peasants desperate enough to do the hard and dirty work, right? When they drop dead from no healthcare as adults, just toss more meat into the grinder!
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

*UPDATE* to Last Post Re: My Husband in the Hospital

I received calls this past Friday morning from both my US Representative's and Senator's offices. I now know I was feverish and quite possibly riding a wave of delirium when I composed my previous entry, with my high temperature peaking Thursday night after I posted it and went to bed. It still hovered around 100 degrees after waking up and I hope I sounded coherent on the phone. The fever lasted through Saturday, and with the big storm leaving me still snowed in, I haven't been able to see my husband in several days.

Husband in Hospital, my Mexican Mother-in-Law needs Visitor's Visa ASAP

The following is my reply in a series of Facebook direct messages between a local community leader and myself, regarding assistance in obtaining a US Visa for my husband's mother to visit him in the hospital, where he is seriously ill:

Hi, thanks for getting back to me on finding help for my Mexican mother-in-law to get permission to come visit my husband in the hospital. Here's my contact info and details of the situation. If you check my FB profile "Wall", I have regular updates beginning Sunday night (or Monday morning) about my husband's condition, "acute pancreatitis with extensive peripancreatic edema and inflammation."